Snowboarding
by blunaowl
Summary: Tadashi rekindles his love for an old pastime, and finds a new one in the process.
1. Chapter 1

"And here's the birthday boy!"

"Aunt Cass…"

"You could be _forty_ one, and you'd still be the birthday boy. Now,get yourself down to the café."

"… you're not going to make me work today, are you?"

"Even _I'm_ not that cruel. Go on! Downstairs!"

Aunt Cass shoved him to the top of the staircase by the kitchen. Deciding the Emergency Department would not be the best place to spend his 21st, he continued down the stairs unaided and walked out into the café that encompassed the ground floor of his home.

Sat at their usual seats were his friends from college, GoGo, Honey, Wasabi and Fred. A raucous cheer went up when they spotted Tadashi and they met him halfway, hugging him and wishing him a happy birthday.

It was only when Honey hugged him that he realised it wasn't just Fred wearing a bizarre choice in summer outfit. He pulled back from the hug and looked her up and down, taking in the ridiculous number of layers she was wearing and frowning. "Honey… why are you dressed like it's the middle of Winter?"

"Your surprise! Well… okay, _this_ is not your surprise, but we need to wear this _for_ your surprise."

"My surprise? Wh-" He looked past them and saw a rather large pile of bags and the snowboard that normally graced his bedroom wall, "…. wait a second…"

Hiro appeared at his side, wearing a toothy grin and a snow suit that was far too big for him. "We're going skiing!"

"I overheard you talking with Hiro a few weeks ago," Aunt Cass began, coming to a stop behind Hiro, her hands on his shoulders, a back pack by her side, "saying how much you enjoyed the family skiing trips when you were younger, and I thought it might be nice if you spent some time on the slope with Hiro now he's old enough to remember. You were a good snowboarder!"

"'Were'?" Tadashi chuckled, "Gee, thanks Aunt Cass." He got a light slap on the arm and raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Prove me wrong then!" His Aunt picked up his pack and passed it to him. "Come on, you're booked in from 10am, I want to get going sooner rather than later."

Pop. "Can we take this stuff off now? He's filled in, I'm melting." After groans of agreement from the others, they divested themselves of the snow gear and bundled it into their bags. After feeding the group a light breakfast and loading them down with snacks for later, Aunt Cass brought a small minibus to the front of the shop and once Wasabi and Fred (who had refused to remove his gear, which included the head of one of his mascot outfits) had loaded the gear into the back, they all piled in and headed off.

* * *

"Check this place out! It looks like real snow!" Hiro plastered his face to the window separating the entrance lobby to the side of the slope, watching as people flew past him. "This is _awesome_."

"Agreed, little man. Agreed." Fred clapped him on the shoulder, "This is going to be a _good_ day."

By the reception desk, Aunt Cass was talking over details with the receptionist, who directed them to a one of the small waiting areas just next to what appeared to be a room filled with snow gear, snowboards, skis, and various other things related to winter sports. Aunt Cass gave the two brothers a hug and left to get back to the café, with promise of retrieval when they had finished for the day.

"Hey guys, come on over!" A blond man, his shoulders broad enough to rival Wasabi's, was stood near the entrance to the kit area, and he wandered over to them with a grin on his face. "I'm Kristoff, I'm going to make sure you all kitted up and cosy before you hit the slope." They followed him to the waiting area, Tadashi and Hiro both lingering near the entrance to the kit area, gawking at the sheer variety of gear within.

"Now, I can see some of you already have your own gear which is _great_. Those of you that don't, we've got a huge variety of stuff to suit you, and whatever sport you'd like to try out while you're here."

Immediately, GoGo, Fred and Hiro blurted out, "Snowboarding," with various degrees of excitement. Kristoff chuckled, "Noted. And the rest of you? You'll all be together as a group, regardless of what you choose."

It took a few minutes and a bit of careful consideration, but Wasabi and Honey both decided that they would snowboard as well, to try and make things easier. It didn't take long before Kristoff discovered that the snowboard was Tadashi's, and that they were there because of him.

"Well, happy birthday. Don't worry; we won't announce it to the rest of the slope. We find it can be a little distracting when everyone looks your way at the same time. Not to mention all the more embarrassing if you fall." Kristoff cringed – there were clearly a few tales behind this particular policy.

It took about half an hour to make sure everyone was toasty enough to brave the cold – Hiro was given something to wear that didn't make him look like an under-inflated marshmallow. Fred's dinosaur head was given the all clear, the fact that he couldn't pull it over his head didn't dull his enthusiasm in the slightest, especially after he was given a green helmet to match. After checking Tadashi's board to make sure it was safe to use, Kristoff fetched boards for everyone else, including a bright pink one for Honey. After she'd taken a selfie with the group and they had squared their belongings away, Kristoff tugged his beanie down over his ears and lead them to the entrance to the slope, trudging through the snow at the base of the slope.

"Elsa!"

About halfway along, two people, one dressed in blue gear, the other in green, were sat on the barrier separating spectators from the people bombing towards them. Kristoff called again, and both their heads turned in their direction, blonde and red braids flying over shoulders. The blonde woman hopped down from the wall into the snow, the red head turned and slid down into the spectator area.

"Elsa, I have your next victims!"

"Kristoff, you can't say stuff like that! At least not in earshot." She flashed a grin at the group, punching Kristoff lightly in the arm when she reached them. "Hi, everyone. Don't listen to him. Social skills of a reindeer."

Tadashi buried his head slightly into the high neck of his jacket to try and hide his dropped jaw. The woman's hair was almost as white as the snow itself, and the blue of her snow gear seemed a dull grey compared with the blue of her eyes. She had a lopsided grin on her face and Tadashi wondered how all the snow was still intact given how warm he was getting.

"Everyone, this is Elsa, our resident Snow Queen."

"Oh my god, _one time_." There was an odd noise from the back of the group as Wasabi tried to smother his outburst with a coughing fit.

"Elsa, this is birthday boy Tadashi and brother Hiro, then… Fred, GoGo, Wasabi and Honey. Did I get that all right?" There was a chorus of positive responses from the group. "I've already told Tadashi about our birthday wishes policy."

She chuckled, "Thank you, Kristoff. And happy birthday, Tadashi." He popped his head up to say thank you, before delving back into the sanctuary his jacket provided.

"I'll leave you to it. I have Anna's kiddie group turning up any minute now."

"It's been an honour serving with you, Kristoff." She rested a hand on his shoulder and he gave a solemn nod, looked down at the floor with a sigh… before he stood up straight with a grin, waved his goodbyes to the group and walked back to his store room.

Elsa grinned and turned her attention to the group in front of her. "So! All snowboarding, by the looks of it, so… let's find out what you're all capable of, shall we? Anyone snowboarded before?"

They stood talking at the base of the slope for a short while, Elsa finding out their levels of experience and discussing what the day would have in store for them. Given that the levels of experience were fairly low, and that Tadashi hadn't snowboarded since he was little, they started out easy, working their way up the slope a few metres at a time. Disregarding the first hour, in which everyone spent more time sat down on the snow rather than stood up on their boards, the group made steady progress. Tadashi found that his childhood boarding skills were slowly coming back to him, and Hiro was picking things up quickly, getting the occasional feeling of déjà vu.

GoGo was eager to make her way further up the slope, but Elsa managed to keep her at a safe height until she'd mastered _stopping_ to Elsa's satisfaction. Fred was doing his best, sticking with Hiro and pulling the younger boy back onto his feet as often as he was pushing himself back up.

Not comfortable on snowboards at all, both Wasabi and Honey traded in their boards for skis at Elsa's suggestion, much happier when they were able to move their feet independently. When Kristoff had returned them to the snow, Elsa let the other four practice what they had been taught so far, whilst coaching Wasabi and Honey in the basics of skiing, before the whole group broke for lunch.

"Can we come here again for my birthday? _Please_ , Tadashi?"

Tadashi pulled off his helmet and grinned down at his younger brother, "You'll have to ask Aunt Cass, buddy. But I don't see why not." Taking off his jacket, he sat down around a table with the others, breaking out the various treats that Aunt Cass had packed for them.

He listened to the group talking about the morning's entertainment: GoGo was talking with Hiro about how far up the slope they could make it before the day was out, but also reluctantly agreeing that they probably weren't ready for the ominous looking red slope just yet. Fred was debating with Wasabi and Honey whether snowboard or skis were best. Tadashi was wondering just how long he could keep up his amateur act before Elsa saw through his attempts to have her coach him more than was necessary.

Unfortunately for him, he clearly wasn't doing a good enough job.

"Tadashi, I thought you said you knew how to snowboard?" Wasabi's curious gaze turned towards him, followed by everyone else's. Fred piped up next, "Yeah, I thought you'd done this loads of times!"

"I… well, y'know, I just… I'm out of practice is all."

"Uh huh. And the hot instructor has _nothing_ to do with your lapse in memory." Fred smirked, popping some sushi into his mouth.

Pop. "My god, boys are _so_ predictable."

"Hey, I don't blame you, she's damn cute." Fred nudged Tadashi in the ribs, causing his sushi to fall from his chopsticks.

"I don't have a crush on the instructor."

"He didn't say you did…" Honey grinned, sipping innocently at her drink. Tadashi's face turned a deeper shade of red as he ate his lunch.

"You _totally_ have a crush on her! Wait until Aunt Cass fin-"

"Noo, no. You do _not_ say anything to Aunt Cass, she'll want to drag her back to the café."

"Aww, look at you getting all protecti- ow! Hey, I need that leg to ride the slopes!"

"Shut up then, Fre-"

"Hey guys, ready to get back out?"

"Sure, Elsa! Say, Tadashi here was wondering if he could maybe head up the slope a little? He's ready for it." Fred flashed a cheesy grin at the blonde instructor, expertly masking the pain of Tadashi kicking him in the leg, which stopped immediately when Elsa looked down at him.

"I don't see why not, you seemed to have remembered most of your childhood skills. Shall we give it a go?" She grinned that lopsided grin again, and Tadashi couldn't say no.

* * *

"Okay, so just like before, we'll go down together. Just keep a hold of my hands, and you'll be fine, okay?"

 _Hold her hands and you'll be fine. Physically, anyway. That's the important one, right?_ Tadashi just nodded, looking down at the intermediate slope. At the bottom, Wasabi and Honey were slowly but surely side stepping their way up the slope to have another go at the beginner's run, and the other snowboarding amateurs were watching Tadashi's run from the side of the slope.

"Are you ready?"

Tadashi swallowed, taking her proffered hands, "As I'll ever be."

"On three. One… two… three!" Elsa kicked off, pulling Tadashi over the incline. It didn't take too long to build up speed; the snow was perfect, the run was smooth and clear and Tadashi was suddenly reminded of the first time he'd been down a yellow slope as a kid. With a whoop, he let go of one of Elsa's hand and fist pumped the air as he zipped past their spectators, and his momentary loss of balance would have sent him flying had Elsa not been keeping a tight hold of his other hand. When he reached the bottom (and apologised profusely to Wasabi for spraying him with snow) he grinned at his instructor.

"Can we do that again?"

She chuckled, and waved a hand to the ski lift, following him over and up the slope again. They picked up the others on the way up, and Elsa carefully and methodically explained how to transfer the skills they'd learnt lower down the slope to the higher speed. She demonstrated with Tadashi's help a couple of times, before Tadashi went it alone. After a long while practising, GoGo and Hiro were chasing each other down the slope, Fred providing commentary as he followed them at a slightly slower pace. Towards the end of the day, Kristoff leading the way, Honey and Wasabi ventured towards the yellow slope as well, both of them making the descent whilst holding onto Kristoff's waist, their skis interlocked with his own. He took Hiro right up to the top of the slope just as the slope was beginning to close for the evening, the young boy standing on the back of his skis, and cheering the entire way down.

Elsa slid over to Tadashi once his brother had made it to the bottom, his shouts of joy echoing around the large hall. "Want to try?"

Tadashi rubbed the back of his neck, wincing, "Ooh, I dunno. Not sure I could stand on the back of that guy's skis without wiping out the both of us."

"You can stick to your board if you like. Come on, I'll take you up." He opened his mouth to decline… but promptly closed it again. _You've been holding hands for most of the afternoon. She's just_ teaching _you. Get a grip, man._

He followed, watching his friends get smaller and small as the ski lift took them to the top of the slope. Once they'd reached the limit, Elsa hopped into place, and indicated where Tadashi should stand. "Don't be nervous. You've done great today, you'll be absolutely fine now." She held out her hands for him to take, and Tadashi almost fell flat on his face when that lopsided grin appeared on her face again.

 _Woman up, Tadashi._

He hopped into position in front of her, taking her hands, looking down the slope. He'd never been this high up as a child, his mother had never allowed it. He would occasionally sneak further up the slope under his father's watchful eye, but never right to the top.

"Tadashi?"

"Uh huh."

"Are you ready?"

"… uh huh."

"Sure?" She gave his hands a reassuring squeeze, the sensation forcing him to look at her.

"… yes."

"Okay. On three. One…"

 _You can do this Tadashi._

"Two…"

 _This is nothing. Just a lil' hill._

"Three!"

 _She looks really cute when she's excite-_

Elsa slid over the edge and started down the incline, Tadashi gripping onto her hands so tight he was sure his knuckles had turned white inside his gloves. The wind rushed through his hair, and as he was staring down the slope he caught sight of Elsa's braid flying behind her in his peripheral vision. The grin on her face was infectious, and Tadashi found himself whooping just as his brother had done, letting go of her forward-most hand, but refraining from fist pumping the air again.

They were already halfway down the slope when he realised that Elsa had let go of his other hand, and he was steering himself down the slope on his own. He grinned harder, all of his previous experience kicking back in, and he reached the bottom of the slope with his arms raised, cheering and came to a graceful stop in front of Wasabi, who he had again covered in snow. Hiro tackled him to the ground mid-apology, yelling about how awesome his brother looked and how they just _had_ to come back here for his birthday and how _awesome_ his brother looked.

Kristoff and Elsa stood to the side of the group, chuckling at the hyperactive teen, who showered them in praise because this was the best birthday ever, even if wasn't his, and _did you see how awesome that was!,_

Kristoff helped the group remove their various boards and skis, and led them back to the store room, Elsa walking at the back, next to Tadashi. "So, I know your _brother_ enjoyed your birthday present. Did you?"

"This… it's been amazing. Thank you. I think I'd have fallen flat on my face a few dozen times if you hadn't been so patient."

The blonde chuckled, "You're welcome. But you're better than you give yourself credit for. A couple more days practise and you'd be flying down that slope."

"Is this where you pull out the membership leaflets?"

"Noo, no, I was being serious. But now you mention it…" She smirked at his slight eye roll, "I'm kidding. I'm just glad you had fun." They had reached the edge of the small waiting area they had started out in, and Elsa held out an ungloved hand to Tadashi, "So. Hiro's birthday?"

He chuckled, pulled off his glove and shook her hand, "Seems like. Thanks again."

"You're welcome. Enjoy your evening, Tadashi. Bye everyone!" She let go of the birthday boy's hand and gave the group a parting wave, before leaving the group with Kristoff to come down from their adrenaline highs, but not without a quick passing grin at Tadashi.

They were still buzzing by the time Aunt Cass had arrived to pick them up. She entered the hall to see the group going through the motions they had learn during the day on the carpeted floor, and chuckled as they quickly launched into an explanation of their day to her.

"It sounds like you had an awesome time! I might have to tag along next time."

"Only if Tadashi doesn't still have a crush on the instructor."

" _Hiro!_ "

"Oooh, really? Who?" Hiro took her by the hand and dragged her to the viewing window, where they could see various members of the slope staff rearranging the snow for the next morning. Hiro pointed Elsa out as she wandered by, and Aunt Cass tilted her head, "Oh, so _this_ is where she works!"

Six heads turned to face Aunt Cass, but it was Tadashi that broke the stunned silence, "You _know_ her?"

"Sure, she comes into the café every so often. Chocolate doughnut and a vanilla latte. Quite the sweet tooth, that one. Her _and_ her sister."

"She has a siste- ow!"

Pop.

"Mhmm. Elsa's a lovely young woman. Quite reserved though, very poli- wait, did you say Tadashi has a _crush_ on her?" Hiro grinned toothily, nodding. Tadashi groaned. "Ooh! I'll let you know when she's next in the café!"

"Aunt Ca-aass…" _… note to self: Chocolate doughnut and vanilla latte._


	2. Chapter 2

Half an hour later, they had arrived back at the café. The topic had shifted from Tadashi's apparent crush on his snowboarding instructor to the actual act of snowboarding, once Aunt Cass had asked exactly what they had done that day. Hiro couldn't restrain himself, describing every second of his red run descent on the back of Kristoff's skis.

On the way through the café door, Aunt Cass pulled Tadashi to the side, "I'm booking this again for _his_ birthday, aren't I?"

Tadashi chuckled, "Ooh, yes. But to be fair, it was an awesome idea. Thank you." He dropped his backpack to the floor and pulled his Aunt into a bear hug.

She grinned, hugging him back, "Anything for my boys. Now go get yourself changed and then come back down for some birthday cake."

Cass gave him a last squeeze before letting him escape, heading back to her spot behind the counter and talking with her weekend helper, Yori, in hushed whispers, animatedly waving her hands at the café, and even the patrons. Too tired to question or comment on her odd behaviour, Tadashi picked up his bag again and followed the gang up to the living room, where they had piled their bags into a corner and sat upon the sofa and chairs.

"Today has been _awesome,_ " Fred said, placing his mascot hat precariously on top of the bag pile before falling over the arm of the armchair. "When's Hiro's birthday again? Please say it's soon."

"Oh, no. No, no, we have to go back there sooner than that." GoGo dug around in her pockets and pulled out a leaflet. "Your girlfriend-" " _Not my girlfriend!_ " "-told me about speed skating before we left –I _have_ to try it."

"What's so speedy about skating? I thought you just flung yourself around the air for a few minutes."

"No, that's figure skating. And it's a _lot_ more than just throwing yourself around." Honey grinned at Hiro, who was upside down on the sofa, "It's mesmerising, and it takes strength and stamina to make it look so good."

"Meh. Still not as awesome as snowboarding."

"You may think that, but _I_ think skating at close to 50kph is pretty awesome." GoGo held the leaflet out in front of Hiro's face to give him a better look.

"Fifty..?" Hiro turned himself slightly in his chair, mouth agape.

"Oh no. Don't give him any ideas. Hiro, you are _not_ speed skating." The younger boy returned to his inverted position with a grumble, but didn't push Tadashi further.

"So… does this mean we're going back soon then?"

"I'd quite like to go back." Wasabi interjected, "Especially with this hot summer – it's rather refreshing. But… not too soon. I've got quite a few bruises to get over first…"

"It would be nice to spend more times upright on skis than tangled up in them…"

Tadashi looked around the room. Each of his friends had a reason to return to the indoor slope, except him.

 _Well… that's not exactly true, is it? You had fun._ Loads _of fun. And I'm sure there are plenty of other instructors there so you don't have to make a complete idiot of yourself in front of a gorgeous girl like-_

"Tadashi!"

"Els- I mean uh… yes?"

Hiro dipped his head slightly and raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. "I _said_ … Aunt Cass is calling us downstairs for cake. Are you coming? Or shall I leave you and your daydreams alone for a bit?" The smaller boy managed to dodge his brother's incoming punch to the arm, and laughed as he tore down the stairs. Tadashi rubbed his face in his hands and followed the group down to the café. As his foot hit the penultimate step, he heard a chorus of voices singing, albeit not very well, in his direction.

" _Happy birthday to you,"_

"Oh geez…"

" _Happy birthday to you,"_

" _Aunt Cass…!"_

" _Happy birthday dear Tadashiiiii…_ "

"…"

" _Happy birthday to you!_ "

With a cheer, Aunt Cass and several other people pulled on their streamers, sending coloured paper all of a foot in the air before it landed unceremoniously in heaps in front of their feet. The patrons, most of them regulars, had been happily roped into birthday celebrations, wearing multicoloured paper hats and blowing party horns. On a table In the centre of the café sat an enormous sponge cake that had taken Aunt Cass the entire day to bake and decorate, and Yori was stood at the side of the table, clearly proud that he'd managed to carry such an enormous cake without incident.

One of the regulars piped up from the other side of the room, "C'mon big guy, make your wish, and blow out the candles! We're hungry!" The rest of the café chuckled, and Tadashi made his way to the enormous cake. He posed for one of Honey's obligatory photos, before looking down at the cake. He'd never been one for wishes coming true. Sure, maybe as a kid watching fairy tales, but come on. This was real life, where science could explain pretty much everything. But…

 _On the off chance this might work – I wish that I don't look like a complete moron in front of Elsa. If I see her again. Which may or may not hap-_

"Tadashi, hurry up!"

He blew out the candles in one breath, much to the delight of the onlookers, who helped themselves to Aunt Cass's masterpiece once Tadashi and his family and friends had taken theirs. They sat back down in their regular spot, munching happily, until Honey broke the silence, "What did you wish for, Tadashi?"

"Oh… I'm not one for that sorta thing, really…"

"Was it Elsa?" Fred said, leaning on the table with a cheesy grin on his face.

"No, I… it was just simple, you know… for a new… snowboard. Good grades and such… honestly." He took a bite of his cake in an attempt to hide the ever growing blush on his cheeks, but the snickers and smirks from his friends indicated to him that it wasn't working as he'd hoped. He was saved from further embarrassing comments by his Aunt's arrival at the table, and after complimenting her on the amazing cake, the group discussed their plans to return to the slope before Hiro's birthday.

* * *

The following weekend however, only GoGo managed to visit the slope, dropping everything so she could try out speed skating. The following Monday, Wasabi and Fred were the first in the labs, eagerly awaiting her verdict on the sport, "If she made it through the weekend in one piece, that is."

"Oh come off it, Wasabi, if _anyone_ can pull off something as ridiculous as speed skating with little to no injuries after the bare minimum of training, it's Go."

"Even so, it makes me wish that Tadashi's project was up and running already…"

"Well, I still say- heeey, there she is!" Fred stood up from his armchair, waving his borrowed pom-poms in the air, striking a pose and pointing one of the balls of pink paper directly at the student wheeling her bike into the lab. "Hey there, GoGo! How did it GoG-ow!" He fell back from the shove and landed back in the armchair, arms and pom poms hanging over the arms, sulking. "Well, I thought it was a good one…"

"Good to see you in one piece, Go. Not that I doubted your ability, noo, no, no…"

She popped her gum and smirked, "Thanks Wasabi. And in answer to _your_ question, Fred… it was brilliant."

GoGo put her helmet and bag down on her desk, jumped on her chair and turned to face them, "Though it might take a few more lessons to hit 50kph." She sat back in her chair, regaling Fred and Wasabi with the details of her lesson, only to have to repeat herself when Honey and the two brothers arrived, sitting down on the old sofa in the corner of the lab, sipping iced tea and soda.

"She's a good teacher though, Elsa. Once she found out I was a cyclist, she made loads of comparisons to cycling. Positions, leaning… Made it much easier to grasp."

"Wait, I thought she taught snowboarding?" Wasabi looked at her, utterly confused. The confusion was echoed on the faces of the other students – Tadashi's look was one of awe.

"She does. And speed skating. Even some figure skating, apparently. Seems her moniker of "Snow Queen" isn't entirely undeserved. Did you know she's been to two Winter Olympics for Norway? Gold in all her individual events."

" _Dude_."

"I was talking with the reindeer guy afterwards. She stopped competing a couple years ago, some… _humongous_ crash on a slope in training. Now she just teaches."

"Dude… that sucks _._ "

"Pretty much what I said. Anyway, I'm going to go back there on Saturday. Might sign up for proper lessons, they don't cost that much." Pop. "You guys should come along. You _must_ have recovered from your various bruises by now, surely."

"I'm game. I want to see this speed skating of yours. Wasabi? Honey?"

"Sure, why not." Honey nodded, grinning. Fred looked to Tadashi next, "You gonna come?"

"Uhm…"

"Oh _come on, '_ dashi. You were getting kind of good."

"… 'kind of'?"

Fred grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ah ha! You've caught the 'boarding bug. I knew it." Kristoff was stood in his usual spot, leaning against the door frame of the equipment area. He pushed off with his shoulder and grinned down at the youngest member of the group. "Couldn't wait until your birthday, 'ey kid?"

Hiro flashed him a toothy grin in return, "Well… it was GoGo who convinced us to come back. But it didn't take _much c_ onvincing."

"Well, it's good to see you guys again. Same set up as last time?" Kristoff sorted their gear out one by one, pointed GoGo in the direction of the skating rink and then walked the rest to the slope. "I know you guys aren't here for lessons, but if you need any help, there are instructors all over the slope. Just wave your hands if you can't see one; someone'll come over, alright?"

Once he was happy that _they_ were happy, he bid them farewell at the protective barrier, leaving them to their own devices. Hiro and Fred chased each other over to the ski lift, immediately making their way to the yellow slope. Tadashi offered to stay nearer the bottom with Wasabi and Honey, but they shooed him away, chuckling.

"You don't want to be stuck down here with us while we fall over. _Hiro's_ the one you should keep an eye on." Tadashi couldn't argue with that logic. On his walk to the ski lift, he was almost taken out by his younger brother, who had forgotten how to brake.

"Woah, there! Careful, Hiro. I told Aunt Cass I'd bring you home in _one_ piece."

"Sorry, 'dashi." He pushed his helmet up on his head with a snigger, before leaning down to free his feet from his snowboard, "Are you coming up? I wanna see if I can perfect this run before the end of the day. Maybe go up to the red route!" His voice got quieter as he ran back to the ski lift. Tadashi smirked at just how awkward the younger boy looked, the boots he was wearing weighing almost as much as he did. He followed his brother, helping Hiro – and Fred – practice braking.

A couple of hours later, Wasabi and Honey decided to join their friends further up the slope, and Tadashi moved on from coaching his brother to coaching the pair of skiers. He would snowboard by the side of them, holding their hand, gaining speed with every descent. As they became more confident in their abilities, Tadashi would do what had been done to him before; when the yellow slope became the green slope, he would let go of their hand, allowing them to make the last half of the descent themselves. Tadashi did this for hours, despite his friends' insistence that, "Honestly, Tadashi, you don't _have_ to do this, go have some fun.".

On one of his trips back up to the top of the intermediate slope, he noticed his audience had grown slightly, and he came face to face with one of the instructors, grinning, blonde braid dangling over her left shoulder. "E-Elsa..!" He winced inwardly at the squeak, before clearing his throat and continuing with a decidedly deeper, "Hi."

"Hi! Tadashi, right?" He nodded, swallowing.

 _She remembers my name how many people are on this slope and she has remembered_ my _name…_

"How's it going?"

"Uhm… fine. I was just… y'know, helping Wasabi and Honey with their… skiing."

"So I saw. You're doing great; they've improved a lot."

"Well… I had a good teacher, I guess." He was so warm he thought he might melt a hole into the snow and sink slowly downwards. His gaze was torn away from the snow when he heard a happy squeal from behind him, and saw Honey and Wasabi both heading down the slope, hands hovering next to each other's but not touching. Hiro cheered, following after them with a "Nerd train!" from Fred.

Elsa laughed, causing Tadashi to snap his head back around to look at her so quickly he thought the momentum would make him topple over. She looked at him with a bemused smirk, "Nerd train?"

"Huh? Oh, uhm… they're scie- we're scientists… except for Fred, he's like… our mascot."

 _…that's the sound of your chances rolling down the slope and burying themselves in the snow drifts. Well done, nerd._

"Really? What in?"

Tadashi blinked – he hadn't expected that response. "Uh… well… Honey's a chemist, Wasabi's in Applied Physics, and Hiro and I work in robotics. We're at SFI- uh… San Fransokyo Institute of Technology." The sense of pride normally present when he spoke those words was replaced with a large dollop of embarrassment, as he forced himself to look _at_ her, rather than down at the snow.

"SFIT? I've heard so many amazing things about that pla- wait… Hiro? He's, what, fifteen?"

"Fourteen. And a genius."

"You called?" The aforementioned student slid into position next to his older brother with a smug grin.

Elsa looked down at the boy with a raised eyebrow, "You're… in college. At fourteen."

"Yep."

"That's…" Elsa leaned back slightly, the heels of her heavy boots digging into the snow. Her other eyebrow lifted slowly to change her look of scepticism to one of appreciation, "That's impressive."

"That's my brother." Tadashi grinned, rapping Hiro on the helmet with his knuckles. Tadashi ducked from his teasing and slid off with his tongue sticking out. "Siblings, 'ey?"

Elsa chuckled, "I know what you mean."

"You've got some?"

"One. Younger sister."

"What's she like?"

Elsa paused for a moment, eyes looking around in thought, "Let's just say if Anna and Hiro became acquainted, I'd be concerned for everyone's wellbeing."

Tadashi chuckled, "I see. Does she come here too? I can always keep Hiro away."

"You'd be hard pressed to. She coaches here as well." Elsa smirked. "We work opposite weekends, so if you're here next Saturday, she will be too."

"Maybe. But it took a couple weeks to get over the last set of bruises so…" He shrugged. _And if I came next weekend_ _then_ you _wouldn't be here… oh geez, Tadashi…_

Elsa grinned a little, shifting her weight slightly, "Well. Whatever weekend suits you, I suppose." There was a slightly awkward pause, neither of them quite knowing what to say next. "Anyway. I've uhm… I've got to check on the rest of the slope, so…"

"Sure, no, uh… I should get back to making sure my brother stays in one piece. I'll uhm… see you around. On the slope."

Elsa grinned, somewhat sheepishly, before heading off to the ski lift and heading straight to the top, leaving a bright red Tadashi to slide to the bottom of the slope and fall ungracefully to his backside by the barrier.

"Need some help?"

Tadashi jumped and looked around him for the voice… then looked up when something – or someone – tapped him on the helmet. He was greeted with an upside down view of Kristoff.

"Everything alright down there?"

"Uh… yeah. Everything's good, you know… just… taking a break."

"Right," Kristoff drawled, pulling himself up onto the barrier and swinging his legs over. "And I'm a troll. You know, you wouldn't be the first guy to take a shine to our top instructor." Tadashi stayed silent, neither agreeing nor denying the blonde man's insinuation. "And because you might actually have a hint of a chance, I shall give you my brother-in-law warning – don't screw her around."

Tadashi felt Kristoff's gaze burning into the top of his helmet and he looked up slowly. Kristoff's size was intimidating enough, but when he was sat a foot above him, coupled with the backlight effect from the spotlights above, he looked absolutely menacing. "I… I'd never… I…"

Suddenly, Kristoff jumped down, landing in the snow next to Tadashi, grinning, "I'm just messing. You seem like a good guy." Just when Tadashi's pulse was returning to a more reasonable level, Kristoff looked at him with an expressionless face, and said, "In all seriousness though, she's been through enough. You do anything, and I'll go all protective brother on you. I'm sure you know what _that_ involves."

Ooh, yes he did. Several times, Tadashi had pulled his younger brother from a mob of angry 'bot fighters, not to mention the hundreds of times he'd had to protect Hiro from his peers during recess at school. He'd go to the ends of the earth for his sibling, and he was sure Kristoff would do the same for Elsa and… _wait._

"Brother-in-law? So… you're married to Anna?" Tadashi was relieved when Kristoff's face regained some of its friendliness at the mention of Elsa's sister.

"Well… unofficially. I'm her boyfriend. Don't worry, not all the staff here are related." Kristoff smiled. "Just us three. Small family, but a great one."

 _The best things often come in small packages._

Tadashi mused, watching as Elsa slowly made her way down the slope, stopping to help the occasional snowboarder or skier on her way down.

… _or blue and blonde ones._


	4. Chapter 4

Sundays were an odd day at the café. The hours were different, the patrons were different, the staff were different, the general atmosphere was… well, different.

This Sunday was markedly different, as Tadashi was behind the counter, rather than his Aunt. The rest of the week had been manic, and Tadashi had managed – but only just – to convince her that the shop would survive a weekend with her eldest nephew at the helm. Even Hiro had agreed to help out. So for the second day in a row, Tadashi was happily moving between coffee machine, till and cake stands, in a well practised dance with his brother and their weekend helper, Yori.

He frequently joined in to help out his Aunt and Yori on the weekends; though the café was small, it was extremely popular with the locals, most of whom were regulars. Some of these regulars were nowhere to be seen on the weekends. Likewise, as Tadashi discovered, there were plenty of people who _only_ appeared on weekends.

The bell above the door jingled as another customer walked in, bringing with them a warm gust of air from outside. Hiro looked up from the table he was clearing and grinned, waving with more enthusiasm than he normally gave a customer, "Hi Elsa!"

There was a sudden clang and a hiss of pain from the coffee machine, and Tadashi cursed under his breath in Japanese at his lack of attention, grabbing a cloth and holding it to his scalded fingers. He replaced the milk jug under the steamer and hit the button and would have continued making a cappuccino single-handedly until Hiro appeared by his side and all but shoved him away from the machine, and towards the small door in the counter. Stumbling through the door, he found himself at the exact same spot in the queue that Elsa and the red head from his birthday slope trip were standing.

"Uh… hi."

Elsa looked equally surprised, casting a quick glance to his waist apron, "Hi." The girl with Elsa looked between the two and then nudged the blonde in the arm with a quiet, "Elsa?"

"Hmm? Oh! Sorry, uhm… Tadashi, this is my sister, Anna. Anna, this is Tadashi, he's been to the slope a few times."

Anna grinned at him, and Tadashi instantly understood why Elsa had been concerned about her meeting with Hiro. She thrust her hand out to him, "Hi! You had a birthday party or something, right?"

"That's right." He took her hand, and gave it a shake, not at all surprised at her firm grip, "Elsa's told me all about you. Well… not all about you… in fact, very little… well, she said she had a sister."

Anna sent a sidelong grin Elsa's way, before letting go of Tadashi's hand, the barista fiddling with the strings of his apron. "Well, I'm sure there's more information where that came from. Right, Elsa?"

Anna looked back to her sister and frowned; Elsa looked like she'd just worked out the meaning of life. "Uh… Elsa?"

" _You're_ the nephews..!" At Tadashi's confused look, she continued, "Cass, she uhm… she kept mentioning her two nephews, and…" She chuckled, shaking her head slightly, "Sorry… I've… I've come in here loads of times, and never seen you."

"Well… I don't normally work weekends, but my brother and I wanted Aunt Cass to take the weekend off, so…"

"Aww, that's sweet of you!" Anna grinned, rocking slightly on her heels, "It must get _so_ busy in here."

Hiro appeared beside Tadashi; there was a lull in the flow of customers, and the younger boy had decided simply listening to their conversation wasn't enough. "Crazy busy. Hi. I'm Hiro." The boy grinned, thrusting his hand out towards Anna, much like she had to Tadashi. The older siblings shared a look.

"Hi, Hiro!" Anna took his hand with a grin, "S'great to meet you!"

"Hiro? Why don't you uh… well, you're here for coffee, right?"

"She's here for coffee." Anna said, pointing her thumb at Elsa, "I'm here for _chocolate_."

"Hiro? Would you do the honours?"

"Right this way!" Hiro held his arm out, inviting Anna to follow him and wandered back to the coffee machine. A few seconds later, just as Tadashi opened his mouth to speak, Hiro reappeared by his brother's side, "Sorry, uh… what drink would you like?"

"Vanilla latte, please." The boy grinned and wandered away again. Tadashi praised his Aunt for her memory of customer's orders, and looked back to the blonde.

"As uhm… as cheesy as this sounds… do you come here often?" Tadashi cringed slightly at just how crass that sounded, but was glad when Elsa chuckled lightly in response.

"Quite often. Anna dragged me in here a few Sundays when we first moved here, and now it's become a bit of a tradition. Plus, your Aunt's doughnuts are _amazing_."

"Best baker in San Fransokyo." Tadashi grinned, always happy to hear compliments directed his Aunt's way, "You uhm… you're from Norway right?"

Elsa frowned and cocked her head slightly, giving him a curious look. "Right… how did you know?"

"GoGo mentioned it, I think she heard it from Kristoff, and… well, I figured you must have grown up somewhere with a bit more snow than San Fransokyo, so…" He shrugged.

"Norway does get a bit of snow from time to time, yes." Her curious frown fell away and she smirked slightly.

"Cool… sorry, that… that horrendous pun wasn't intentional." Tadashi cringed again, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. _This is embarrassing. Hide in the oven. Under the sink. Anywhere, just… oh god, her grin is way too adorable._ "So uhm… when did you move over?"

"A couple of years ago."

"Wanted to trade the snow for the sun?"

Elsa gave him a non-committal shrug, "Something like that." Tadashi wasn't convinced, but he didn't press the matter. Instead, when her gaze wandered from his and ended up in the direction of the cake display, Tadashi used the opportunity to turn the conversation back to the reason for her coming in - coffee and cake. He got a chocolate doughnut out for Elsa, a piece of carrot cake out for Anna, and cleared a table for them whilst Hiro rang up their order – Tadashi quietly whispered to him to put it through discounted, telling him that he would happily face any wrath from their Aunt.

Not wanting to impose of what was clearly a family tradition, and once again aware of the growing queue of customers, Tadashi went back to clearing tables, trying to focus on his work, rather than the sisters at the table by the window.

* * *

"He keeps looking over at you, y'know."

"Hmm?"

"Your friend. Tadashi."

"He's… he's not really my friend, I've just coached him a couple of times, that's all."

Anna smirked; despite how well her sister managed to hide it from everyone else, the younger girl knew when Elsa was getting flustered. " _Sure_. Okay. Just a student. Just a nice, tall, handsome-"

"Anna.. _._ " Elsa rolled her eyes at her sister's seemingly innocent grin. "I know what you're trying to do. And it's not going to work."

"Oh come on, Elsa. He _clearly_ likes you, he was all…" Anna made a slight sputtering noise and jiggled her hands frantically in front of her, causing Elsa to frown.

"Translation?"

"He was _nervous_. I mean… you have been known to make people nervous before, but that's only when you do the thing, and you weren't doing that to him. …yeah, that thing!" Anna pointed at Elsa's deadpan expression, her left eyebrow raised in an unimpressed manner. "Maybe I can find out his work hours-"

" _Anna._ "

The redhead sunk slightly in her chair, turning her nose up. "Stinker." She sat up again after a few moments, taking another bite of her carrot cake.

"I don't know how you can eat that."

"Well, I put some on the fork, I open my mouth and… ihn ih goef." Anna chewed happily on her cake, washing in down with some hot chocolate. "It's all Kristoff's fault. He's obsessed with the stuff. I'm sure he'd eat it morning, noon and night if he could." She took another bite, talking around the cake for a moment, much to Elsa's disapproval, "Befivef, it'f… it's one of my five a day."  
Elsa smirked, chocolate laden doughnut on the way to her own mouth, "Uh huh. You keep telling yourself that. I'll get them to reinforce the ski lift, shall I? Can't have you falling through because of all of this healthy food intake." She took a bite from her doughnut, trying not to laugh at the tongue poking out from her sister's mouth.

* * *

Tadashi was cleaning tables when he heard his Aunt's voice in his ear, "You know, if you scrub that any harder, you'll give the table a cup holder."

Tadashi turned to see his Aunt, laden with shopping bags, peering over his shoulder with a grin. "Aunt Cass! You're back early."

"I can't stay out for a whole weekend without going little doo-lally. Besides, I can't carry all this around town all afternoon." Tadashi immediately slung his cleaning cloth over his shoulder and took the bags from his Aunt's hands, hiding his astonishment at the fact that she managed to carry them at all.

"I'll uhm… I'll put them upstairs. You go… sit down, have a drink… don't make it yourself!" He made his way slowly up the stairs to their living room, fighting with the bags and the door handle, eventually opening the door with his knee before stumbling inside. He piled the bags on top of one of the armchairs, rolling his shoulders when divested of the weight, and then made his way back down to the café.

He glanced round to try and locate his Aunt and cringed; she had sat with Elsa and Anna, animatedly talking with them. He was sure he heard his name mentioned, and that fear was confirmed when Aunt Cass spotted him and waved him over.

As he reached her side, Aunt Cass, still seated, wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him towards her, "And this is my eldest nephew, Tadashi."

"Aunt Cass… we've met already…" Tadashi rubbed the back of his neck, running his hands to his hair, forgetting he couldn't wear his cap whilst working in the café, instead causing his thick hair stand up on end.

"Well… now _I'm_ introducing you- oh my goodness, how _rude_ of me; I haven't thanked you both for ensuring he had so much fun on his birthday!"

Anna was grinning too hard to reply, instead leaving the talk to her more diplomatic older sister. "It was a pleasure. I'm just glad he enjoyed himself." Elsa looked up at the twenty-something turned embarrassed child, then brought her attention back to his Aunt, thinking that one sister grinning inanely at him was embarrassing enough. "Everyone seemed to have a good time, that's all we want."

Tadashi was still focusing on the first half of her response, which went some way to allaying his fears that she might think he was a gibbering idiot. _But she's just saying that because she's polite, 'dashi, come on._ He heard his Aunt talking again, and decided he should probably pay attention to what she was saying, so he could interrupt if necessary. As much as he loved his Aunt, she could be somewhat… talkative.

"The boys keep coming back with tales of their time on the slopes." She turned to Tadashi, giving him a nudge with her elbow, "I'm glad you two have finally found something to drag you out of that lab of yours. Especially Hiro. Somewhere he can run down his seemingly endless energy reserves that _isn't_ around all these plates? _Wonderful_."

Elsa smirked, "I'll bear that in mind. I'm sure we could tire him out even more." She grinned at Anna conspiratorially.

" _Definitely_. Heey, we hold competitions every now and again, maybe next time one comes up, we'll give you the details?"

"That… sounds… _excellent!_ " Both Elsa and Tadashi watched as her sister and his Aunt started squealing information at each other, as if the next competition was only five minutes away. The elder siblings both looked at each other with slightly fearful looks, before returning their gazes back to their respective relatives.

Aunt Cass and Anna finally calmed after a few more minutes of nattering, before feeling their company's gaze boring into them. In unison, and with utterly confused faces, they asked, "What?"

Both Tadashi and Elsa wiped the stares from their faces. "… nothing."


	5. Chapter 5

_"TADASHI!"_

Hiro steamrolled through the door to the labs, shouting at the top of his voice. There was a clattering of tools and the smash of glass as the students collectively jumped, moving swiftly out of the way of the excitable boy, throwing apologies over his shoulder before barging his way into his brother's lab.

"Tadashi! Tad- aaargh, where _is_ he?" The boy turned to run back out the plan  
"Woah there, small fry!" Fredzilla provided a rather soft obstacle for Hiro to run into, and the dinosaur flipped up his head to reveal the human one underneath, "Where's the fire?"

"No, no, no, it's something way cooler than that. _Way_ cooler. Like, _ice cold_."

"… what?"

Hiro shoved a small sheet of paper, a poster, into Fred's scaley chest. He lifted an arm from his costume and took it, reading it over.

" _GOGO!"_

* * *

Tadashi walked back into the lab, Baymax's storage box in his hand, having visited Callaghan's office to update him on his project. He pushed the door open and was immediately bowled over by Hiro, who began talking so quickly Tadashi couldn't understand him.

"Woah, woah… slow _down_ , Hiro. What's happened?"

"Tadashi, can we go? Can we? Can we? Can-"

"Go _where?_ Hiro, what are you talking about."

"Norway!"

"… what?"

"Look, look!" Hiro forced the poster he'd brought over into his brother's chest. He looked over the crumpled paper; the top was emblazoned with the logo of the ski slope, and as Tadashi read further, he began to understand his younger brother's excitement. The poster was advertising an all-inclusive sports holiday to a slope in Norway. _Real_ snow, varying terrain, not to mention the company he'd be keeping, looking at the list of instructors.

He continued reading, and baulked at the price; even though it wasn't quite as high as he might have expected, he and his brother were still only students, and his Aunt a single-parent, juggling them and the café. "Hiro… this may be a good few months away, but unless both of us get brilliantly-paying full time jobs on top of everything else-"

"Or I win a few bot fights."

"-or you win a few bo- what? No! No, Hiro, not this again. I'm _not_ rescuing you from more of your illegal stunts!"

"You won't have to. Or rather, you _didn't_ have to." Tadashi narrowed his eyes at Hiro. "Okay, so… maybe I got this poster a couple of days ago and _maybe_ I snuck out and won some bot fights and got away with someone else's help, but that means we can go! Right? Fred says he's going."

"Yeah, but Fred could probably _buy_ Norway. I will _not_ use money won from illegal gambling to go on holiday."

"But-"

"No, Hiro."

Hiro shoved his hands into his pockets, but dropped the subject. After all, he hadn't said _he_ couldn't use it. Tadashi passed him back his poster, which promptly found itself pinned up on the noticeboard on their side of the lab floor, annoyingly located where Tadashi was bound to pass it each and every time he walked to his lab.

* * *

"Kristoff?"

"Ye- oh, hey Tadashi! How are you? Looking to go out, or…"

"Not tonight. I uhm… Hiro brought a poster back from here about some field trip to Norway yesterday, and I wanted to ask about it."

"Ooh. Yeah, he all but ripped it off the wall when I said he could have it." Kristoff chuckled and shook his head. "That kid has _far_ too much energy. So, are you thinking about coming?"

"I really want to. But I'm not sure if I can afford it."

"Well… we do what we can to try and keep the costs down. My contacts are old buddies of mine, it's arranged outside of summer break, that sort of thing. You wouldn't have to pay for equipment hire, but that's not a lot to begin with…" Kristoff looked thoughtful, tugging slightly at his earlobe.

"Every little helps, I guess. I still reckon I'm going to have to pick up another job to try and raise a bit more cash though. Arrange it for _after_ summer break, won't you? Gives me some more time."

Kristoff chuckled at him, "I'll do my be- hey… I could ask my boss if you could help out here a few nights a week. Some of the people here know a _lot_ less about snowboarding than you do, and the pay's not so bad. You wouldn't be able to teach, but you'd be able to gear people up, help reset the slope after closing… that sort of thing."

Tadashi pondered. He was already there at least twice a week to take a break from his project, why couldn't he do that and help out at the same time?

"That… that sounds pretty good. I'm grateful, thank you."

"No worries. Leave it with me, I'll ask Oaken later." He rifled around in his pockets and pulled out his mobile, "Save your number in here, and I'll text you as soon as I get an answer."

Tadashi happily complied, before heading out of the sports centre, waving over his shoulder at Kristoff as he left.

* * *

Two Saturdays later, Tadashi arrived at the slope at lunchtime, on his own, clutching his fluorescent bib and company branded beanie in his hand. He walked up to the receptionist by force of habit, but she merely grinned, opened the barrier up for him and waved him through.

Tadashi glanced around, looking towards the equipment area for Kristoff. He didn't see him, rather a much younger boy, no older than sixteen sat outside the door, waxing the bottom of a snowboard, nodding his head to something in his headphones. Tadashi tapped him on the shoulder and his brown bed hair bounced about when his head shot up, "Hi!"

"Uh… hi. I'm uhm… I'm starting today. Tadashi."

The kid pulled his headphones from his ears and took his hand enthusiastically, shaking it. "Hi! I'm Olaf. And he should be back in a mi- speaking of. Kristoff!" Olaf let go of his hand, waving the much larger man over.

"Heey, you're early! So much the better; Anna will kill me if I'm here too long. C'mon, I'll show you where you can dump your stuff and then I'll give you a quick tour." Tadashi followed Kristoff through a series of doors, before reaching a room lined with lockers and tons of high-end sporting equipment. "Dump your bag in there, your board up there and let's go."

Tadashi tried to move as quickly as he could, aware that Kristoff seemed to be in a hurry to leave. He tried not to chuckle, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just Anna and I don't get many days off at the same time, what with work, so weekends are a luxury. C'mon, let's go..!"

Tadashi grinned and finished putting his stuff away, before almost jogging down the corridor after his friend. As he followed him, what Kristoff had said finally clicked - if Anna was _off_ , that meant that-

"Elsa!"

Tadashi almost walked into the back of Kristoff, who had ploughed into Elsa. She chuckled, "Good afternoon to you too, Kristoff."

"Are you alright? You're alright, right? I'm sorry, I'm just showing Tadashi the staff stuff. You know, canteen, toil- of course you know. You've had the tour before, so-"

"Kristoff! Do you want me to show Tadashi around?"

"… lifesaver. You are. A lifesaver, I mean. You're a-"

"Will you _go_ already?" Elsa grinned at her bumbling friend, who quickly turned to Tadashi, patted him on the shoulder with a hasty "See you!", before running down the corridor to see his girlfriend.

Elsa chuckled, shaking her head, before turning the corner and finally coming into view of a red faced Tadashi. "Hi."

"Hi."

"How much has he told you?"

"Uh… I know where to put my stuff… but not how to get to the place… to put my stuff."

Elsa grinned, pushing her bangs behind her ear, and Tadashi bit the inside of his cheek, swallowing hard. "Let's… take it from the top, shall we?" Elsa directed Tadashi back down the corridor and to the front desk. Tadashi was more than happy to walk ahead of her, using the time to reorganise his face into something a little less ridiculously happy.

"Tadashi?"

"Mhmm?" _Focus, 'dashi…_

"… I asked if you'd met Olaf?"

"I uh… yeah. Well. Briefly."

"Alright. I'll ask him to show you around the equipment room, while I get your ID sorted. Olaf?"

The brown haired teen jogged over with an ear to ear grin, "Yep?"

"Could you show Tadashi what wonders await him in the equipment room while I get him an ID card?"

"Sure, Elsa! C'mon, Tadashi!" Olaf took the taller man's arm and pulled him along, listing and explaining all the equipment and gear in the room, in a uncharacteristically precise and methodical manner.

"But, y'know, if you forget all that there's a list of everything up here on the wall." Olaf pointed his slim arms towards a rather long inventory on the wall by the entrance. "You'll pick it up pretty quickly. Took me a few weekends to get used to stuff."

"How long have you worked here?"

"Uh… a year? A little more? Elsa got me the job, helped me loads with school and stuff." Olaf grinned, "Why did you want to work here?"

"Need the money. I'm hoping to go on that skiing trip."

"Oooh, the Norway one? I went last year. _So_ much fun. Middle of summer, and there was still loads of _snow_ , and loads of _sun –_ but it wasn't actually that hot – but it's _tons_ of fun! You have to go!"

Tadashi grinned at the boy, "We'll see." He turned his head at the sound of footsteps, and Elsa came into view. She gave him his ID card, then took him at a slightly slower pace to the locker room, showing him the shower room, or at least pointed him in their direction, the staff canteen, and all the nooks and crannies that he might need to know about, before Tadashi assured Elsa he could find his own way back so she could carry on with her own day.

It took him a while, but he did find his way back. Eventually.

"Olaf? Could you uhm… could you tell me where the bathroom is? I… I was a bit… distracted."


	6. Chapter 6

Aunt Cass, in spite of Tadashi's fears, was more than happy to help him towards payment of his trip to Norway, and four months into his work at the ski slope, he had already paid his fee.

 _"So… if you've paid it, why are you still working here?"_

 _"Why not?" Tadashi shrugged, looking at the familiar group who had turned up to snowboard on a day he was working._

 _"Oh come on, we_ all _know why he's still hanging around…" Wasabi nudged Fred in the arm, "Look who he works with."_

 _"Sure, Olaf's a good ki-"_

 _Pop. "_ Elsa _, you idiot."_

He hadn't said a word, and his silence had told the group all they needed to know. As a result, Anna and Elsa's quiet Sunday visits to the coffee house had snowballed. Hiro had already started sitting with them, having quickly made friends with Anna, and it hadn't taken long before the entire gang of students was joining them in the afternoons for coffee and baked goods.

That Sunday, it was Tadashi who commented first, looking rather concerned. "Where's Elsa?"

"She's at home. Flu." Anna gave Kristoff a small knowing smirk when Tadashi's frowned deepened.

"Well… is she alright? Does she need anything, or-"

"She's fine, Tadashi. In fact, she's the one that turfed _us_ out. She's got all the stuff she needs - meds, tissues and chocolate. You don't need to worry." Anna gave him a warm smile and patted him on the hand. "Just relax. She's probably asleep, or watching Wall-e or something. She'll call us if she needs anything."

"You know, Anna, if she finds out you mentioned her love for Disn- oops." He looked up and down the table, thankful that the rest of the gang was ordering food with Yori… but then inwardly groaned at the small grin on Tadashi's face.

"And I hope for _your_ safety, she never finds out." She grinned, patting an expressionless Kristoff on the head.

"… maybe I could take some of Aunt Cass's doughnuts over-"

"Tadashi, she's _fine_." Anna pulled him slightly closer and lowered her voice, "Besides, she'd get horribly embarrassed if you saw her all filled with cold and surrounded by tissues. I'll tell her you said hi, okay?"

He sighed and sat down, still looking concerned, but not wanting to embarrass Elsa at all. "Okay, okay… can you take some doughnuts back with you?"

Anna chuckled, "If it will make you feel better."

"Well… hopefully they'll make _Elsa_ feel better."

"You know, you're cute when you're worried."

"I'm… I'm not wo- I mean, I'm worried, but m'not… cute… what?"

"Awww, look at him all flustered…!" She ruffled the small bit of hair poking out from under the brim of his cap. Tadashi pulled it down over his glowing red face, hunkering himself down into the chair, making Anna grin even harder. "If you're like this when you're in two different places, I can't imagine how you're going to manage going on holiday together later in the year."

"We're not 'going on holiday together'. We're just going to be in the same country, participating in the same sport at the same time… and there'll be _other_ people there, so… not together… well, together but…" He pulled the brim down further, mumbling quietly.

Anna nudged Kristoff, indicating towards the mumbling man. "It's like watching a group of tiny puppies colliding into a glass door. Adorable, but painful."

* * *

Intentional or no, Anna forgot to retrieve the bag of doughnuts from the counter before leaving, and he was torn between taking them to her or leaving Elsa on her own. Alone. _Alone at home. Unwell, alone, on her own at home…_

 _Don't do it. Don't do it, don't- oh, hey, this is a nice apartment block._

Tadashi stood alone in the corridor, in front of her door, fist in the air, hovering an inch from the wood. He wanted to make sure that Elsa was okay, try and cheer her up, make her a cup of tea and-

 _Ugh. This is embarrasing. Just go home, text Kristoff, he can pick up the damn doughnuts la-_

The door swung open to reveal Elsa, wrapped up in a rather cosy looking hoody, blonde hair free from her customary braid, framing her slightly flushed face, her cheeks reddening further to match her nose.

"T-Tadashi."

"Uhm… hi." He slowly dropped his fist from its position in midair, staring down at her, jaw dropped. Hair down, sans makeup, sniffing slightly, and she was still the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. His look of awe was replaced with that of concern when she started sneezing uncontrollably. "Woah, woah, hey, you should be in bed, what are you doing up?" She held up a carrier bag of crumpled tissues, sneezing again.

"Nuh uh. C'mon, give me that. _You_ need to be back in bed." He took the bag from her and steered her back into the apartment before she had the chance to object. He placed her bag by the front door and put the bag he had brought with him on the kitchen counter, before sitting her down on the sofa that she'd clearly already spent most of the day on, putting her duvet around her shoulders.

"Tadashi, what're y-" She sneezed again and Tadashi handed her a tissue.

"You are going to sit down, put your feet up, while I make you some green tea to wash your doughnut down with. Okay?"

"My… what?" The last word came out as more of a squeak, as she looked at Tadashi slightly bleary eyed and frowning. "Tadashi… w-… what are you doing here?"

"I… I was worried. Anna said you had flu. I mean, she said you were okay, but I just wanted to make sure. I wasn't going to come, but she didn't take the doughnuts, so I thought _I'd_ bring them, and then I thought I'd bring along some tea as well. Green tea's good fo-"

"Tadash-" She trailed off into a coughing fit, falling back against the couch with a groan. "Tadashi, you can't be here, you'll get sick too." She sniffed and felt a wave of steam hit the back of her throat. She opened her eyes and saw Tadashi crouched down in front of her, holding a tub out. "Whassat?"

"I… brought you some soup too." He looked at her sheepishly. "Elsa, I'm not worried about catching what you've got, just that you feel better. But I'll… I'll go, if you want." He put the soup down on the coffee table, next to the cup of tea and the doughnut and sat back on his haunches, waiting for her reply. He didn't _want_ to go. But if she didn't want him around…

"… I'm not gonna be able to eat all that myself."

"You want me to put some away for later, or…"

"… depends how hungryyou are. If you don't think you can eat the rest…"

"No, I can manage some. I've had lunch, but it was only a little one, so-"

"Tadashi."

"Huh?"

"… top drawer under the toaster."

Tadashi got up from his place on the floor and headed to the small kitchen, opening the drawer and pulling out a spoon. When he went back to the sofa, the bundle that was Elsa had scooted further up to give him somewhere to sit, and he carefully took a seat, reaching over to the table and passing the soup to Elsa. "Eat what you can." He passed her the tub and the small porcelain soup spoon, and leaned against the back of the couch, turning to watch the movie on the TV.

He watched Elsa out of the corner of his eye, listened to the quiet slurp of her eating, the ever growing sniffles as the heat of the soup got to work warming her up. It didn't take long before she'd had enough food, and Tadashi took it from her, languidly eating a few spoonfuls to top up the huge lunch he'd had back at the café. He was just finishing one last sip when he heard quiet snoring to his right.

Glancing over, he saw Elsa fast asleep, head lolled to the side, mouth open slightly, snoring quietly. She looked the complete opposite of the graceful woman he was used to seeing flying down the slopes, and he couldn't tear his gaze away. She coughed, shifting under the duvet and curling up even tighter, but didn't wake. Tadashi looked back at the TV, the movie long since finished. Quietly, he collected up the spoons, the empty mug and soup pot from the table, tidying everything away and put the cooling leftovers in the fridge. He grabbed a clean mug, readied some tea leaves and put them next to the bag of doughnuts on the coffee table. He leaned a hastily scribbled note up against the mug, with his number to call if she needed anything, before switching the TV off and leaving her to sleep, picking up the trash bag on the way out.

* * *

"Elsa? Hey, Elsa, we got you some more hot ch-" Anna fell silent at seeing the sleeping bundle on the sofa, head resting on the arm, still bundled up in her duvet.

"Uh… Anna?" Kristoff was stood in the kitchen, the fridge door open, head cocked to the side. "Did you leave this in here?"

"No…" Anna was grinning madly, reading the note on the table, "But I think I know who did."


	7. Chapter 7

"Aah, _hjem, kjære hjem!_

"Kristoff grinned, stretching as he walked out of the airport into Norway's August sun. Behind him were a dozen San Fransokyians who had made the journey to the European country in order to experience winter sports somewhere other than on an indoor slope. Hiro's friends, Fred, Wasabi, Honey and GoGo were there, in addition to a several others that were part of their various classes. At the tail end of the group was Tadashi, who was practising various Norwegian phrases with the group's third and final instructor, Elsa.

In a red and black blur, Anna and Hiro ran past them all, younger sister rattling off the names of various things in Norwegian to younger brother. Someone called Anna's name from a line of vehicles at the side of the road and the girl squealed, abandoning Hiro and running over to him. "Kai!"

Kristoff saw an equally speedy yellow blur out of the corner of his eye, and grinned at the sight of the two sisters mobbing the much shorter man. Hiro, dragging his case behind him went back to Kristoff. "Who's that?"

"That's Kai. Old, old, _old_ family friend. Lovely guy. We're going to head out and grab _middag_ with him and his wife before we head up to the mountains."

"'Dinner', right?" Tadashi walked up to stand beside Kristoff and Hiro, looking over at the trio by the cars.

"Right. And this restaurant has _the best_ lutefisk in the world."

"Lutefisk?" Hiro frowned up at him.

"… maybe not for your first meal, kid." Kristoff ruffled his hair, before calling the group together and over to the cars. He gave Kai a hug in greeting, before loudly greeting the other two drivers that had shown up to provide transport, both of them pulling him into spine snapping hugs, complete with backslaps.  
Wasabi leaned over to whisper in Fred's ear, "Are they greeting him, or beating him up?".

Anna hopped over to provide an explanation, "Kristoff was a volunteer on a search and rescue team up in the mountains for a while - they're his old team mates. And they're _all_ built like tanks." An appreciative look was shared amongst several group members, before Anna started steering them to their vehicles.

It was impossible to tell who was more excited out of the chattering group, the visitors or the natives. The impromptu Norwegian lessons had continued in the vehicle he was sharing with Anna, and had now moved onto the subject of food, specifically what might agree with Hiro's sweet tooth.

"You'll love _krumkake_. It's like… it's like a waffle, you roll it up and fill it with stuff. Cream, or chocolate… oh my god, I've missed them. They're like the gummy bears of Norway." Hiro's eyes widened slowly, like a small kitten who had been sprinkled with catnip. There was a quiet "Oh dear," from Nicola, an eighteen-year-old snowboarder in Hiro's class, followed by Wasabi's, "Who's idea was it to let these two co-exist in the same universe?".

Kristoff shrugged.

The group in the other vehicle were just as chatty, finding out from Elsa what that next two weeks held in store for them, rather than just focusing on the next few hours.

"-and next week we'll head off-piste. We'll pile onto snowmobiles, find a good spot in the middle of nowhere and just… play about." Tadashi's face exploded in a grin at the mention snowmobiles.

Pop. "This is going to be… _awesome_."

"Depending on the weather, we could _camp_ if you really wanted to." A few cheers erupted from the small group, but Elsa frowned, and continued quietly, "Actually… depending on the weather and bears. And… _wolves_ …" She raised her voice again, "Let me find out about that one first." As the rest of the group dissolved into discussions about the finer points of which animal would be preferable as a midnight predator, Tadashi poked his head over the seat in front of her, in order to speak to Elsa.

"So… how far away are we from where you used to live?"

Elsa looked over her shoulder at him with a small smile, "It's about an hour's flight from here. But, the ski slopes are actually quite near to Nærøyfjord, so as we pass over, I can point it out."

"I swear you guys fly more than you drive." Tadashi chuckled; he'd already been on two flights that day.

"Unfortunately, it's a bit tricky to drive through over a fjord in autumn." Elsa smiled wanly.

Tadashi frowned. "You don't seem all that enamoured with the prospect of another flight." He had noticed, but remained quiet about the fact, that both sisters seemed to become rather subdued whilst anywhere near aeroplanes. If he didn't know of their proclivity towards dangerous winter sports, he would've put it down to a mild fear of hurtling over an ocean in a large metal tube for eight hours, but even the thirty minute flight within the US had put them on edge. It had been part of the reason he'd asked Elsa to teach him some Norwegian phrases whilst they were over the Atlantic; he wanted to keep her occupied.

"I'm not a fan, no. If the journey weren't so difficult by road…"

"Well. I'm sure there's a whole _heap_ of phrases left for me to learn. What was that one again? Luftputerboaten min er full ov als?"

Elsa chuckled once, " _Luftputebåten min er full av ål._ "

"Luftputerbotnen… wait, say it again?" Elsa grinned up at the head poking over the corner of her chair and turned in her seat to face him better, taking him through the phrase he knew perfectly well, one syllable at a time.

* * *

 _Middag_ was a literal smörgåsbord – " _S_ _mørbrød,_ " corrected Anna, her face full of krumkake – of Norwegian food for the group to tuck into. Rather than everyone pick one thing from the menu that they might dislike despite the natives' translations, Gerda had suggested they get a little bit of everything. Hiro had taken a curious sniff of lutefisk and promptly shoved it back at Kristoff, holding a piece of krumkake under his nose for the next ten minutes.

After a couple of hours deciding which dishes they would happily eat over the next couple of weeks, and once Anna persuaded Kristoff to order several more helpings of krumkake for later consumption, they piled back into their vehicles and drove off to catch yet another plane. Tadashi happily indulged in another round of "Distract Elsa" whilst they were in the air, only stopping when he heard Kai talking to Honey, who was sat next to him, "Down there, that's Nærøyfjord."

Elsa's head snapped around and she peered past Tadashi to take a look out the window. "… can you see your house from here?" He smiled at her, leaning back a little in his chair so she could move in closer.

She lightly pressed a finger to the window, "You see that sort of S-shaped main road?" He nodded. "Just above the second bend, where the hills begin. That's our old house. Well, that's where it _is_ , anyway. And further south, by the docks, if you sit in just the right spot, you can watch the sunset through the mouth of the fjord…"

Tadashi had to dip his head slightly to see what she was showing him, their cheeks briefly touching as he leaned in for a closer look. Tadashi pulled away quickly, apologising, but Elsa merely smiled and moved back a bit more, letting him lean in while she pointed out things with her finger, her other hand gently resting on his shoulder. He found it hard to concentrate, the warmth of her soft cheek still lingering on his, and he briefly shut his eyes to try and clear his head, to focus solely on her quiet, measured voice. He snapped his eyes open when all that came to mind was thoughts of other skin-to-skin contact and was greeted with a window full of cloud. Sitting up straight, he looked over at Elsa.

"I imagine it's much more beautiful up close." _Much like one of it's previous inhabitants…_

"Mhmm." She nodded, sitting back in her chair and looking at the seat in front of her.

The plane banked suddenly and Elsa grabbed hold of the armrest between her and Tadashi, before forcing herself to relax again. Tadashi calmly placed his hand on top of hers, giving it a small squeeze and giving her a reassuring smile. "Almost there."

As if on cue, the pilot's voice came over the intercom, speaking purely in Norwegian, but Tadashi made out 'ten', followed by what sounded like 'minutes'.

He kept hold of Elsa's hand until they landed.

* * *

"And you're sure there are no bears."

"I'm sure."

"Or wolves."

"Yep."

"… or winter wolves."

"Anna. There are no lions, tigers or bears in this small corner of Oz."

"… or wolves."

" _Or wolves_."

"I just wanna be sure! As beautiful a backdrop as our destination would make, I'd rather not be mauled to death this evening."

"Anna, you'll be perfectly safe. I have my penknife. … don't try and do the eyebrow, only your sister can do that-"

"You're going to fight off a bear with a penknife?"

"There are _no_ bears out there-"

"You just implied that there were-!"

"Anna-"

"Kristoff _-_ "

" _Both of you!_ Please stop arguing."

They both fell silent at her raised left eyebrow, visible even in the dim light, and continued trudging through the snow. Elsa turned back to face front, leading the group to a nondescript location. Elsa and Anna had been absent for the day, both of them - well, _Anna_ \- unusually quiet upon their return. Kristoff had kept the group sufficiently occupied that they hadn't asked questions of the two sisters. Far too curious for his own good, Tadashi had watched the pair and realised he had seen that look before, in mirrors when he was younger. He had worn the same emotions he was seeing on their faces, and hoped that their reasons weren't the same as his. When Hiro had quietly pointed it out to him over dinner, he decided there wasn't much else it could have been.  
He had watched Elsa for the rest of the evening, giving her a warm smile whenever she would catch him staring. Soon after dinner, they had left to gear up, as warm as they could possibly manage, before starting the long walk to… wherever they were going.

Honey had been the first to work out where they were going, but had kept quiet, refusing to elaborate on Elsa's plan. Wasabi had been next, almost falling over with glee when Honey confirmed his suspicions. Hiro had been throwing wild guesses for an hour, and Tadashi couldn't keep ideas such as 'midnight tobogganing' or 'reindeer wrestling' out of his head long enough to form a coherent suggestion of his own. He gave up, and resumed his observations of Elsa.

Said observations made him walk smack bang into GoGo, when he hadn't realised they'd come to a stop. Elsa gave him a slightly bemused smile, before saying, "We're here."

"… where's here?" Hiro watched as Elsa simply pulled out the mat she had brought with her and sat down on the snow. Anna and Kristoff followed suit. "… what's going _on?_ "

"Just wait, kid. You'll see." Kristoff grinned at him, pulling Anna into his lap and citing shared body heat. One by one, the others unrolled their mats and sat down, quiet conversations being held in the cluster of people.

Tadashi followed Elsa's gaze up into the sky and he looked up at the stars, filling the sky like glitter. He was never able to see this many stars back home; San Fransokyo was a clean city, but light pollution would always be an issue for a big city. It simply wasn't dark enough for star gazing. He got lost in the constellations for a while, and he had no idea how much time had passed when he heard a small gasp and a voice laced with almost childlike wonder.

"The sky's awake."

He looked around and saw a small sliver of green amongst the black before it disappeared. He watched as it reappeared, longer and more defined, before disappearing again. Within a few minutes, the coloured ribbons were simply too large and too bold to vanish, and the snow beneath them flickered shades of green, yellow, red, violet, blue, the Northern Lights dancing across the sky.  
He heard a quiet sniffle, followed by shuffling, the brief crunch of snow and more shuffling, then the crumpling sounds of waterproof jackets colliding with each other, before the quiet sniffs were all that could be heard.

Tadashi carefully looked towards the noise and saw Elsa hugging her knees, Anna sat beside her, arms wrapped around her in a hug, tears staining both of their cheeks. He tore his gaze away and forced himself to look back up at the sky, but not before wrapping his arm around Hiro, who had quietly shuffled closer and leaned against his older brother's side.

* * *

"Hey Elsa! Can we get these on the slope and get rid of the ski liii- _aaaah!"_ Elsa chuckled as Kristoff zoomed past her on a snowmobile, Anna holding on for dear life, as her sister trudged up to the top of the hill on foot. They had spend the first week on the standard slopes, working their way from green to red, the group of amateurs becoming finely attuned to the differences between indoor winter sports and the real thing. After a near flawless red route run from Hiro, she had announced that they would spend the rest of their trip off-piste, but to the raucous delight of the San Fransokyians.

For their last day, Elsa had brought them to a hidden gem within the mountains; too far away from camp for anyone to simply stumble across, too much of an incline to snowboard there, but on the snowmobiles Kristoff had wangled from his old S&R buddies, it had been an easy trip.

Hiro was sat behind Honey on the back of GoGo's snowmobile, screaming his head off with glee. GoGo had nominated herself designated driver, and had performed a number of stunts with the machine that had made Elsa wince. The third snowmobile had done the rounds between some of the others and as Elsa reached the top, Tadashi was at the handles.

A gap-toothed grin appeared between them, "I bet you…"

"Oooh, here we go." Elsa rolled her eyes and adjusted her goggles on the front of her helmet.

"… that Elsa can beat you to the bottom…"

"That's no contest, I'm nowhere near as good as she is on a board-"

"… while you ride _that_." Hiro pointed at the snowmobile, grinning.

"Hiro." Pop. "That's the best suggestion I've heard all day." GoGo turned off her snowmobile and swiveled around on the seat, leaning back against the handlebars. Several others in the group agreed with her, and moved to get a better view.

"… we've not said yes yet-"

"But you haven't said _no_ either, 'dashi." Fred grabbed a spare t-shirt from his bag, standing in between Tadashi and Elsa, clearing meaning to set them off.  
Elsa took a wary look down at the slope below; she'd been impressed with how quickly Tadashi had picked up driving the snowmobile, and it came as no surprise when she was told he rode a scooter. Peering down at the snow, she could see a good, clear route, there were no trees for miles… she was sorely tempted, and a grin slowly crept onto her face. She looked over at Tadashi, who shared a similar look.

"… okay."

Hiro cheered and hopped off to find a better viewpoint, whilst Elsa clipped herself onto her board and moved a sensible distance away from the snowmobile. Tadashi widened the gap even further.

"Okay! First one to the bottom… which… actually, the bottom's kinda hard to make out, so whosoever we deem the fastest, and most totally _awesome_ wins! Get ready!" Fred bounced on the spot, turning himself sideways, t-shirt flag pulled taut above his head.

Elsa checked she was all secure and gave Fred a thumbs up. Tadashi got comfortable, knees bent, hovering above the seat of the snowmobile.

"Okay, on three! One!"

Elsa took a deep breath and pulled her goggles down over her eyes. Tadashi revved the engine briefly, brakes clamped down.

"Two!"

Elsa hunkered down slightly, getting ready to push off the edge. Tadashi revved again, the torque nudging the snowmobile an inch or so forward, the snow shifting behind him.

"THREE!"

Fred's t-shirt hadn't even hit the ground when the two racers started to move. Elsa popped herself off the side of the hill, hitting the slope at the perfect angle to quickly gain speed. Tadashi's acceleration had been nowhere near as good, sending a torrent of snow behind him as the tracks spun in the snow before they finally got good grip, and sent him hurtling off the side of the slope, Elsa already several feet ahead and gaining.

Tadashi ploughed through snow drifts, occasionally catching air, but mostly stuck to the ground. The larger the snow drift, the harder he had to accelerate in order to get over it, and until he managed to work out the timing, he found himself ploughing through the thickest of snow drifts, his speed dropping until the tracks of his snowmobile cleared.

Elsa had to go with the drifts, large and small. She carved her way through the snow, using the smaller drifts to bank and flying over the larger drifts with ease. She couldn't hear the sound of the snowmobile for the wind rushing past her ears, and focused all her senses on what was in front of her. What - and who - was behind her was of little import.

Tadashi, lacking professional teaching and the amount of practice that Elsa had had, found himself intensely aware of every little sound; the noise of the engine struggling if he held the throttle open over a jump, the suspension creaking under the weight of the machine hitting the deck at too shallow an angle, the wind creeping under the flaps of his woolly hat and into his ears. It took all his energy to focus on the obstacles in front of him, and the fact that he could see Elsa pulling away inch by inch only served to annoy him and make him insanely happy at the same time.

He almost lost control when Elsa made one last huge jump, performing a grab in mid air, complete with 360° spin. He couldn't help but stare and got a mouth full of snow for his inattention. He tore his gaze back to what remained of the slope, and came to a hard stop near the bottom, the rear of the snowmobile swinging out and causing a huge snow spray that covered the celebrating Elsa from head to toe. When the air cleared and he caught sight of her, he moved to apologise… then to retaliate when he got a snowball right between the eyes.  
Elsa laughed as a snowball narrowly missed her ear, and she quickly moved to free herself from the now-highly inconvenient board holding her feet together. She'd barely managed to free both feet before Tadashi had dumped an armful of snow on her, before picking up more snow and chasing after the giggling blonde.

"Don't run! I have to shower you with celebratory snowflakes! Millions of them!"  
Elsa was laughing too hard to retort and a well placed snowball to her shoulder distracted her enough the she fell face first into the soft snow, Tadashi falling on top of her, flattening his quarry of snow between them. Still laughing hard, he deflected Elsa's handfuls of snow to the face, eventually managing to grab her arms and pin them above her head. "Gotcha!"

She made a futile show of trying to escape, but quickly gave up, her giggles and his laughter slowly calming as they tried to catch their breath, grinning like idiots.

"That was…. _amazing_." Elsa chuckled, still on an adrenaline high from the descent, and blinked slightly when Tadashi pulled her goggles from her eyes with his left hand and sat them back on her helmet. Her grin faltered slightly as she stared at him, the dark brown of his eyes made all the more darker and more inviting by the stark contrast of the bright blue sky.

She felt like she was in a vacuum, unable to hear anything but her pulse like a staccato drum beat in her ears, quickening as Tadashi moved closer. His voice, though quiet, silenced the thumping noise completely and she thought for a moment that her heart had simply stopped.

"You're amazing."

The outline of his face reached the level of her imprint in the snow, and just as she could feel his breath on her skin, she was blinded by the sudden glow of the high sun in her eyes, Tadashi's weight missing from her hips. She blinked to try and refocus her vision, and a silhouette came into view, two pigtails swinging in the breeze.

"It… Hiro and Fred, they… I… we… sorry. Are you okay?"

Elsa didn't trust her voice and just nodded, taking the hand Anna offered her, pulling herself to seated. A couple of feet away, both Hiro and Fred were shouting and yelling mostly incoherent comments at Tadashi, who looked just as stunned as she felt. The excitable noticed that Elsa had seemingly appeared from thin air, and their ramblings increased ten fold, until Wasabi finally dragged them away under the pretence of being interested in their re-enactment of the run.

Anna moved to stand behind Elsa and pulled her up, her arms under her sister's. She moved back round to stand in front of the silent girl, and forced her to look down at her. "Elsa. Are you okay?"

She nodded mutely, then turned her head back to see Tadashi being pulled to his feet by Kristoff. She caught Tadashi's gaze for a moment, before she forced herself to look away, staring down at the snow she'd been lying in moments before.

"I'm fine."


	8. Chapter 8

Elsa walked slowly towards the doors of the Exposition Hall. She had been invited by Tadashi during a visit to the Lucky Cat Café several weeks ago, after he had been forced to give up his second job at the slope in order to focus on some kind of project. She'd been intrigued, but he had refused to show her the work in progress; she _had_ to wait until the Exposition. Once the others in his group of friends had heard she would be going, they'd all teased her with titbits of information about their own projects and what little they knew of Tadashi's.

She'd rather been looking forward to it, actually. Well. Until… recent events.

In the few short weeks since returning from Norway, Elsa had used any excuse to avoid Tadashi, and she had hated herself for doing it. On the the rare occasion that he had time to visit the slope, she could quite easily find plenty of other visitors that needed her help.

Otherwise, she just had to avoid the café. She'd had a legitimate excuse the first Sunday - she simply had too much to catch up on after two weeks abroad. The following Sunday, she convinced Anna she wasn't feeling well, and she had barely escaped being dragged there by her increasingly suspicious sister the last time.

Avoiding Tadashi was childish and she _knew_ it. But what had happened- no, what had _almost_ happened in Norway. They had _almost_ kissed.

 _Almost. You don't know what it would've been like. There's no point dwelling on what might've been. Whether his lips are actually as soft as they look. If you could get lost in those gorgeous brown-_

 _Stop. It didn't happen. It won't- it_ can't _happen. Just… pull him aside and tell him you don't feel the same way._

 _He deserves better._

Elsa came to a stop at the top of the staircase. It would be easy. _Should_ be easy. She'd walk in, find Tadashi, say her piece and leave. She could make her apologies to the others later. Or get Anna to. She sighed.

 _… so much better._

Taking a deep breath, Elsa walked into the Hall, and was blown away by what was on display. A plethora of different inventions was spread throughout the hall, hundreds of students desperately trying to prove that they were good enough to come to SFIT. Some of the displays were by current students, showcasing the immensely high standard of work that parents could expect to see their children to produce if they made it in to the prestigious college, and to allow curious children and teenagers to find out what it was like to study at SFIT.

Elsa slowly made her way through the crowds, but couldn't keep herself from being drawn to a display here, a demonstration there. Eventually she heard the "Behind the line!" that she had come to associate with Wasabi and looked over. She saw him waving frantically at a line taped to the floor, Fred helping keep some curious children back from his… wall of lasers? Okay, she _really_ didn't expect Mr. Mild Mannered to have such a dangerous streak. Casting her gaze around, she caught sight of GoGo doing speed comparison tests with what looked like a normal pedal cycle, and a bright yellow bike that she was riding, her speed bordering on ridiculous. There was a squeal, and she spun around to see a cloud of pink smoke settling, and an ecstatic - and rather dusty - Honey Lemon motion towards an empty stand, to the cheers of her audience. She chuckled at the sight, and turned back to see what speed GoGo had reached, but instead saw nothing but a broad chest and a pair of familiar lips. Elsa's gaze drifted upwards.

"… hi."

"Hi. I… I wasn't sure you were coming."

 _Me neither._ "Well… you'd… you'd worked so hard on this project, I couldn't… _not_ see what it was you'd been hiding all this time."

Tadashi smiled slowly, before he stepped slightly to the side and held an arm out to direct her, "My project's right over here. Why don't you come and say hi?" He walked over to prepare get something from what appeared to be a red toolbox on the floor, leaving Elsa to stand amidst the people milling around. She watched as Tadashi set about digging around in his bag, whistling to himself, that adorable triumphant look that appeared when he'd found what he was looking for.

 _… I can't do it._

She took a small step backwards and walked right into the path of a drone that was flying nearby. Yelping in pain, she clutched at the side of her head, wincing. She heard Tadashi's concerned voice getting closer, and when she reopened her eyes, she wondered just how hard that drone had hit her, staring in wonder as some sort of balloon type object slowly inflated in front her, stood in some sort of docking station she had casually dismissed as a toolbox.

The marshmallow stepped out of his box, squeaking slightly, before taking a few steps forward. He stopped, side stepped a small child that was gawking at him, before continuing forward and coming to a stop in front of Elsa.

"Greetings." The marshmallow like robot raised his hand and moved it in a circular motion, like he was washing a window. "I am Baymax, a personal healthcare companion. I have been activated because I heard a sound of distress. My scan indicates that you have sustained a minor head injury, due to a rogue flying object. On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"  
Elsa looked down at the sudden appearance of what appeared to be a pain scale, demonstrated by a happy smiley face getting slowly more and more upset and red faced as the number below it rose.

"Uh…. t-… two?"

"A minor impact can sometimes be soothed with the application of an ice pack." Baymax raised his hand slowly and positioned it near Elsa's head. She turned to look at the robot's giant palm and took a small step away, frowning.  
"Elsa… it'll help. You can trust him."

 _Trust the robot. Tadashi built it._ _And you trust him… right?_

Cautiously, she shifted back to her previous position and dropped her hands. Baymax's rather squishy hand replaced hers, resting lightly against her head. She felt a sensation of cold emanating from his palm and her drone-induced headache was all but forgotten.

"If your symptoms do not improve, a mild analgesic may be required. My scan indicates that you are not allergic to any medications; an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen would be appropriate."

"Actually… this is doing the job rather nicely."

A minute or so passed in complete silence, Tadashi stood on Elsa's left, Baymax's left hand up to the right side of Elsa's head, Elsa's eyes closed. It was quite a bizarre sight to behold for passers by.

Baymax's oddly chirpy voice broke the silence. "In addition, my scan indicates that tension may be a contributing factor in your discomfort." Baymax suddenly removed his hand from the side of her head and waddled to stand behind Elsa, who looked at Tadashi with a look of 'What the hell is he doing…'. Tadashi merely smiled, unmoving.

There was a hissing noise, eliciting a surprised squeak from Elsa, who suddenly flinched, her shoulders shooting up towards her ears. The cold spray to the back of her neck smelled quite strongly of menthol and was quickly covered by a large warm pillow. Elsa's shoulders relaxed once more and her head dropped forward, "Oh wow… that feels nice."

"Tension headaches are often caused by muscle tension in the shoulders. There are number of causes for this tension, including stress, muscle overuse and incorrect posture. I believe in this instance the cause may be the latter, due to your-"

"Th-thank you Baymax..!" Elsa stammered a little more loudly than she had intended, raising her head and her hands and turning to face him, "That's… I feel a lot better now, thank you."

"Are you satisfied with your care?"

"… what?"

"I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care."

"Then… I'm satisfied with my care."

Baymax blinked and moved back to his docking station, his stubby legs squeaky with every step, side stepping Elsa, and patting the gawping child softly on the head. Slowly, he turned, stepped backwards into the dock, and deflated back down to his original compact size.

Tadashi cleared his throat, still wondering about Elsa's abrupt interruption to Baymax's diagnosis. "So… what do you think?"

"It's uhm… He's great. Brilliant, even. He could do wonders for healthcare."

"That's the plan. My goal is to try and improve healthcare around the world. All I want to do is try and use my skills for the betterment of humanity… sorry, that probably sounds really clichéd-"

"It's a wonderful goal." Elsa couldn't help but smile warmly at him, "And you're certainly off to a great start. A Baymax in every home, mall, hospital… he could save lives." She fell silent, looking at the nondescript red box sat on the floor a few feet away.

"Elsa-"

"Tadashi-"

"You go first. No, you-"

Tadashi sighed, pulling off his cap and running a hand through his hair. Elsa bit her lip and looked down at the ground. When she stubbornly refused to start, Tadashi filled the silence, "Elsa, I… I'm sorry about… about what happened. In Norway. I mean… if you don't want me to… well, obviously you don't, because I've not seen you, but-"

"N-No, I do, but-"

Tadashi stopped rambling immediately to let her continue, his hand falling from his hair, the brim of the cap bending almost to breaking point. His eyes had light up at her words, but as he watched Elsa stare at him, eyes wide in horror, the small glimmer of hope began to fade again.

"I- I mean… I… _we_ … we can't… I can't…" Elsa slowly began to move backwards again, and Tadashi slowly extended a hand towards hers, to try and comfort her. It had the complete opposite effect, Tadashi calling out her name as she ran through the crowd and out of the building.

He tried to follow, but he couldn't force his way through the sea of people quickly enough. It was oddly reminiscent of the race that had caused all this tension in the first place. He followed Elsa's example, using streams of people to find a route to the front door, rather than trying to force his way through huge drifts of stationary obstacles.

It seemed like an age before he finally hit the cool wall of air from outside, eyes darting all over the huge maze of paths before him, trying to see a hint of platinum blonde amidst the darkness. He ran down the stairs and towards the edge of the paved entranceway, shouting Elsa's name, but couldn't see her. He patted himself down to try and find his phone, but his pockets were empty. He turned on his heel and ran back into the hall, ignoring the frowns of people who had watched him pleading to open space.

He reached his display area, tripping over Baymax's box and hissed at the throbbing in his shin. He found the bag that he'd left behind, rummaging around for his phone in the pockets.

"Tadashi, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, Baymax."

"You are showing elevated levels of adrenaline, and increased heart rate and breathing. These symptoms can be indicative of stress, or fear. … Tadashi?"

Baymax looked down at his creator, who was staring at the phone in his hand.  
"… she's not answering."

"Who is not answering?"

"Elsa. She's not picking up her damn phone and I- _Anna_. Anna will know where she's gone." He pulled up the younger sister's number and dialled, "Come on, come o- Anna! Anna, I need your help."

 _"Tadashi? Everything okay?"_

"It's Elsa, we-"

 _"_ _What is going_ on _with you two? Wait, what- help?_ _-… What have you_ done _, Tadashi-"_ Anna's voice suddenly took on a dark edge.

"Nothing! We were talking, about… about _us_ , and she got scared for some reason and ran off-"

 _"I warned you, Tadashi-"_ Kristoff's deep voice rumbled from the speaker and Tadashi's eyes widened.

"Kristoff, you know I wouldn't do anything, we were just _talking_..! She started saying something about how we can't do… _something_ and then she ran off! I just want to make sure she's okay…" He could hear Anna and Kristoff talking, their muffled voices slowly getting more and more agitated until Tadashi heard a rattle, and he heard Anna's voice loudly in his ear.

"Tadashi! Meet us at the slope."

"Of _course_..! C'mon, Baymax!" Tadashi hung up and grabbed the robot's hand, pulling him through the crowd,

Deflating Baymax slightly in order to squeeze him into the foot well of his scooter, Tadashi accelerated hard down empty roads, drifting around corners with a skill to rival GoGo's. He pulled up right in front of the ski slope entrance, dropping the scooter on it's side before barrelling through the door, a saggy-looking Baymax jogging behind him. He tried the doors, but they were locked, the slopes having long since closed for the evening. He pounded his fist on the door, shouting Elsa's name as if she might casually open the door and invite him in for tea and krumkake, before giving it a kick with his toe, ignoring the throb and sliding to sit in front of the door.

He looked up from the concrete at the sound of a car's engine, and saw Kristoff pull up with Anna. She leapt from the car and ran up the steps, fumbling with a set of keys. "She'll either be on the slope or at the rink, I don't know which." Tadashi nodded and as soon as Anna found the key and unlocked the door, he ran in and leapt over the barrier, Anna close behind - Baymax tried to walk through through the barrier repeatedly, until Kristoff finally released the lock on the turnstile, allowing the robot to move forward.

Quickly stopping at the viewing window in the main atrium, he looked up and down the slope to see Elsa, but there was no sign of her - the snow was pristine and untouched. Running through the thankfully empty corridors, drifting into walls and slamming open doors, Tadashi finally located Elsa at the ice rink, almost hitting the perspex viewing window when he came to a stop.

Elsa was alone, moving faster than Tadashi had ever seen GoGo move on the ice. He watched as she tore down the length of the rink, turning to make the corner, but losing her footing on the turn and hitting the padded side wall with a thud. Tadashi immediately made a move to the door, but stopped when he heard an exasperated shout in Norwegian as Elsa picked herself up and tried again at the other end.

"Oh, Elsa…" Anna had finally caught up to Tadashi, and watched as her sister skated harder and harder, her frustration clearly mounting with every failed attempt.

She almost made her fourth, before scrambling to regain her footing before the straight. Tadashi saw her hit the side walls twice more before realising she was going to hurt herself before she wore herself out, but was stopped from entering the stands by Anna's hand on his chest, "Let me try." She walked out into the stands, and Tadashi winced when Elsa hit the wall again, the slap of the slender woman hitting the thick, plastic covered foam at speed no longer muted by a closed door. When he didn't see her rise from her last fall, he held his breath, and flashed his eyes towards Anna, who was edging along the ice in her trainers. He looked back towards Elsa, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her push herself to seated. Tadashi rubbed his hand, wincing as she hit the ice in frustration, before wrenching off her right skate and throwing it several feet. When it finally came to a stop, Tadashi noticed it was rather long to be _just_ a skate and his gasp of realisation turned into one of terror as he felt himself get turned around and pushed roughly up against the perspex, Kristoff holding him there by the throat.

"What the _fuck_ did you do, Hamada!"

"Nothing, I swea-"

" _What did you_ _do?"_

Tadashi could've sworn his toes left the floor, holding desperately onto the other man's hand and arm, trying to relieve the pressure to his throat, "We.. We were jus' talking! I wanted to find out what I'd done to make her avoid me, I wanted to apologise!"

Kristoff narrowed his eyes, but released his grip slightly, "Go on."

Tadashi coughed and hastily continued, "I didn't expect to see her at the Expo, so I thought maybe she'd forgiven me for whatever I'd done, or something…"

* * *

"I.. I was going to tell him… to… to forget about me, w-… whatever feelings he… he thought he had, he… he should just forget them… save himself th- the time… "

Anna had finally reached Elsa, who was sobbing in earnest, hugging her waist. The younger girl crouched down beside her, hands hovering next to Elsa, but not quite touching, in case the contact would interrupt her stammered explanation of what had happened.

"But then I got there, and… and I saw him, and… I couldn't tell him. I couldn't do it, I- I…"

"… why don't you just _tell_ him? See how he reacts-"

"N-no.. no, no, I can't… he'll find out j-just how broken and s-screwed up I am, and he'll _leave_ and I can't go through that again, _I can't lose him_ , I…"

Anna wrapped her arms around Elsa as she trailed off, rubbing her back and rocking her as best she could without sending them both toppling to the ground. "You… you two are the most… intelligent _idiots_ I have ever met in my entire life, I swear."

* * *

"She really likes you, you know that? I know I sometimes act like some kind of troll with no social awareness whatsoever, but even _I_ can see that. I could've _killed_ Hiro and Fred for breaking you two up in the snow that day."

"… then… then why has she been avoiding me?" Finally free of Kristoff's death grip, Tadashi looked over his shoulder and down to the sisters on the ice. His gaze wandered to the lone skate that had come to rest almost halfway up the rink, and could clearly make out the top half of a prosthetic leg sticking out from the skate.

"She's scared, I think. I don't know. I'm observant, but not a mind reader. However, I _do_ know… that she never wanted you to see _that_."

Tadashi suddenly remembered a comment GoGo had glazed over months ago. "… the crash. Her injuries… that's why she stopped competing."

"People… they tend to treat her differently when they find out. It happened all the time in Norway - it's one of the reasons we moved to San Fransokyo. They _both_ needed a fresh start after everything; the accident, their parents' deaths-" Tadashi spun his head around to look at him, horrified to have his suspicions confirmed. "They died on the plane journey to see Elsa when she was in a coma in Canada."

Tadashi looked back down at the ice, his mind racing. He heard Kristoff sigh beside him, "And… _that's_ the look she was hoping to leave behind in Norway."  
"What look?"

"That… pitiful look. She got it all the time. She'd spend months working with physios and counsellors… Anna did _so_ much to help build her confidence back up, try and make her see none of it was her fault and then someone would hit her with that look and…" He trailed off, but Tadashi got the idea.

* * *

"Elsa, he's not like them. He won't treat you differently if he finds out. He near enough worships the ground you walk on - you could be a floating head and he'd still…" Anna paused and cupped Elsa's cheeks in her hands, tilting her sister's head up to face her. "He'd still _love_ you as much as he does now."

"… what?"

* * *

"That entire year was horrendous. How those two managed to make it through it with their sanity intact, I have no idea. Certainly wasn't anything to do with me." Kristoff chuckled slightly, leaning his shoulder against the window and looking down at the pair, before looking at Tadashi. "Elsa's already lost so much because of her injury; her parents, friends who have just… moved on. I'm not sure she could manage losing someone else she loved."

Tadashi lifted his forehead from the window and stared at him, before pushing himself away from the window and to the door, almost falling down the stairs in his rush to get to the rink.

The sisters both heard the distant rumble of footsteps, and Anna looked behind her to see Tadashi fly through the open rink door, and fall to his hands and knees almost immediately. He ran past Elsa's abandoned skate without a second glance, slipping and falling over several times, before coming to an ungraceful stop on his stomach, having slid the last few metres to his target. He hauled himself up, walked on his knees round to Elsa's side Anna-free side, took her face in his hands and leaned in to kiss her deeply.

Elsa sat deathly still, shocked at Tadashi's bold move, before finally giving in to his touch, closing her eyes and running her hands up to rest behind his neck. Tadashi's core strength and willpower gave out to gravity, and Tadashi only had a split second to run an arm behind Elsa's head to protect her, before he crashed down on top of her. He gently lowered Elsa's head to the ground, pushed himself up onto hands and knees, looking down with concern. "God, I'm- are you okay?"

Elsa nodded, trying to catch her breath. She looked up at him, her hands sliding from where they had been behind his neck to his chest. Elsa could feel Tadashi's heart pounding in his chest, showing no sign of slowing. They stayed like that for a few moments, and Tadashi realised that this was almost the exact same position they'd been in that day on the snow. He shifted off to one side, taking Elsa's hands and pulling her upright, before shifting her to sit on his lap, shielding her from the cold of the rink.

"Elsa-"

"Tadashi-"

Both of them chuckled at the sense of deja vu, heads dropping forward slightly, looking at their linked hands.

"I'm sorry I've been ignoring you. It… it was childish, I know but, I… I was scared."

"You didn't want us to get any closer… in case I left you when I found out." He rested their entwined hands gently on her right thigh, and he felt her nod against his hair. "You know I'm not going anywhere, right?" Tadashi lifted her head up, pushing a couple of loose bangs back behind her ears. "I promise."

"But you deserve so much better-"

"Woah, woah, stop right there. I don't want to be with anyone else. I don't deserve _you_ , Elsa. But I'm not going to leave you. You're stuck with me. For forever." He kissed her again briefly, his lips barely leaving hers when he pulled back to continue his outpouring of reassurance, punctuating each pair of words with another kiss. "And ever. And ever, and ever, and e-"

Elsa ran her hands up his chest, grabbing hold of his blazer and pulling him towards her, silencing him completely. Tadashi pulled her further into his lap, running a hand up her back and into her hair. It wasn't until Elsa shivered slightly that he broke the kiss, swallowing hard, his brain foggy from the lack of oxygen. "Oh man, you must be freezing. C'mon, let's get off this ice and somewhere a bit warmer." He gave her another quick kiss, which turned into another… and another… and-

"Okay, let's… we… let's go, shall we? Where… where's your boot?" He glanced around to get his bearings. He followed Elsa's look, before starting to edge closer with Elsa still on his lap.

"Tadashi, what are you-"

"My butt's numb and I can't walk on ice _normally_. This is going to be a lot safer in the long run." He smirked, and kept going. "Besides, you're not heavy. Even after all those doughnuts."

"… I have a fast metabolism."

"Fast, chocolate-fuelled metabolism."

"Right. … come on then, slowpoke, faster!"

"You've been spending too much time with Go, and I'm going as fast as I can..!" Tadashi chuckled and poked his passenger in the side. Elsa squirmed in his lap and Tadashi found himself having to bite hard on the inside of his cheek. She shuffled off, digging the heel of her skate into the ice and pushing herself to their destination. Tadashi shifted, tugging on his trousers, before crawling on his hands and knees over to her. Elsa had unlaced the boot and removed it, cursing softly.

"Elsa? Everything okay?"

"I broke my ankle." She turned to see Tadashi fall forward, his hands slipping on the ice at her comment. "Oh god, are you okay?"

"Yeah… yeah, fine. Just… not used to hearing that said so _casually_." He coughed, pushing himself back up, kneeling next to her, "May I?"

Elsa looked sharply at him, down at his outstretched hands, then down at the broken prosthetic she held in hers. Hesitantly, she handed it to him, the only person other than her family to even _touch_ it. She watched him like a hawk, as he carefully turned the leg in his hand, flexing the ankle, assessing the damage.

"It's taken quite a beating. And not just tonight, I wager…" He cast a sideways glance at Elsa, who gave him a tiny shrug. "I can fix it. If you'd like. I uhm… I might have to replace a few bits - I can make the parts in my lab… if you want."  
Elsa looked at him; Tadashi was _literally_ holding a piece of her, and she couldn't help but wonder if he hadn't already figuratively held a far more vital part of her for a long while already. She nodded.

"I trust you."

Tadashi smiled warmly at her, reaching out for her hand and giving it a squeeze. After deciding how best to manoeuvre themselves to the rink door, and several almost-falls, they reached dry land. Tadashi removed her other skate and tied the laces together, dangling them round his neck. Crouching down, he offered up his services as taxi, and walked up the steps to the exit with Elsa on his back.

As they rounded a corner, they heard Anna's voice carrying through the corridors, followed by what sounded suspiciously like Baymax's.

"Hold _still_ , you overgrown balloon!"

"Perhaps if I deflate myself further-"

"Baymax, _no!_ "

Behind him, Tadashi could feel Elsa's silent giggles at the sight of Baymax tangled up in the turnstile, legs walking in midair, Anna and Kristoff both trying to untangle him from the metal poles, made all the more difficult by the fact he'd already partially deflated himself. Tadashi went over, Elsa slipping off his back and watching while he helped painstakingly remove the robot from the turnstile.

"Thank you Tadashi, Anna and Kristoff."

"Aww, you're rather cute, aren't you." Anna grinned, Kristoff took her by the arm.

"No, we can't take him home. He's Tadashi's."

"Aww…"

"Speaking of… we didn't think we'd see you two for a while." Kristoff smirked at them both.

Tadashi rubbed the back of his neck, "Well.. ice isn't the most comfortable of surfaces…" He caught sight of Elsa blushing furiously, ducking her head.  
Anna grinned, walking over to Tadashi and thumping him in the arm, "Well, I'm glad you two idiots saw sense. Only about… six billion years later than the rest of us." She pulled Elsa into a hug, but then caught sight of what her sister was holding, "Elsa, what did you do to your leg _this time_? _"_

"I… may have broken the ankle with all the cornering. But Tadashi's volunteered to fix it. We were going to go to his lab."

Anna snorted, "Uh huh. To his _lab_."

"Anna!"

"Hey, I'm not complaining, just means you won't wake me up at stupid o'clock with your early bird nonsense." Anna grinned madly at her sister, before sidling back over to Tadashi and pushing him to her. "Then we won't keep you. Just.. ring if you need anything. Picking up… clean clothes, make up for hickeys-" Anna hid behind Kristoff when Elsa raised her eyebrow. "Save me!"

"You know I don't get involved in these loving, sisterly moments." He jerked slightly when Anna shoved him in the back, but didn't move. "Uhm… does… does the robot get any smaller, or do you want us to take him home?"

There was an excited gasp from behind him, followed by a sad sigh when Tadashi spoke, "No, it's fine. He deflates. Besides, he probably needs charging up, so… thanks anyway."

Kristoff gave a lil' nod and a smile, before turning around and steering Anna towards, and into the car, before pulling away and leaving Elsa, Tadashi and Baymax in the complex.

"So."

"Soo…"

"… you've never been on my scooter before, have you?"

"No, but I've been on a snowmobile with you before, and there was a lot more padding around that time…"

Tadashi chuckled and took her hand. "You'll be fine. I'm not _that_ bad." He leaned down and gave her a kiss. "Besides, if anything does happen, Baymax will be on hand to patch us up."

"Why does that not reassure me in the _slightest_?"

"I am programmed to treat 98% of all ailments and injuries."

"It's the other 2% that concerns m-" Elsa yelped with surprise as Tadashi crouched in front of her and pulled her forward into a piggyback, walking through the exit gate and towards the door.

"Come _on_ , Baymax!"

"I am not fast."


	9. Chapter 9

"And this is my lab." Tadashi carried Elsa through the door, kicking a screwdriver to the side as he did so.

"It's uhm… you like to spread your work out, don't you?"

The room was long, a large circular window at one end facing out over the grounds of the Institute, the bright neon street lights outside streaming into the room through the cherry trees outside, giving the white walls a slightly pink glow. On either side of the window were two desks: one was covered with blueprints and small chests of drawers, covered with circuit boards and more tools than Elsa could name. The other had a computer, the screensaver showing various images of robots, other pictures that Elsa assumed were something to do with robotics, the occasional picture of a dumpy brown and white cat, and pictures of his lab mates and family. There was a metal workbench against the right hand wall, with various half finished pieces of welding and soldering work, and a box labelled 'Actuators', the word 'Killer' scrawled in pen above the type on the label.

Lining the rest of the room were various cabinets, some of them overflowing with circuitry or wiring, and the walls were covered with posters, a calendar, a rather large and detailed poster of human anatomy, and SFIT memorabilia. There was a clear path marked out on the floor, bordered by various tools, screws, bits of paper – including a large pile of scrumpled up paper by his bin – and a flashlight.

"Eeeh…" Tadashi set Elsa down by the desk, clearing some loose metal fragments from the desk chair and pushing it over to her. As she sat down, he took his cap off by the brim and scratched the top of his head and shrugged, chuckling nervously. "I uhm… wasn't expecting visitors." He starting picking up some of the tools from the floor, until Elsa grabbed his arm.

"Don't feel you have to tidy up on my account." Elsa smiled and dropped her arm, resting her hands in her lap. "Is this all work for Baymax, or are there other projects lurking in here too?"

"Most of it's Baymax. There are a couple of side projects, but I haven't had enough free time recently to give them a go. Speaking of…" He looked around for one of Baymax's old charging stations, and steered the robot into it. Unable to pack himself away like he could with his newer case, he sat on the floor, the charging boots like socks on his feet.

"Okay." He quickly tidied the top of his workbench, clearing some space, before turning back to Elsa. "… still happy for me to do this?" She still seemed hesitant, and after a moment Tadashi said, "I promise I won't turn attach thrusters or anything."

Elsa chuckled once, looking at the aide in her lap, before passing it to him. "… no go-faster stripes, either."

Tadashi grinned and held a hand over his heart, "I swear." He turned back to his desk, setting the prosthetic down in front of him, and starting to work. After a few minutes, he adjusted how he was stood so that Elsa had a clear view of his workspace. His habit of muttering to himself while he worked provided a quiet narration of what he was doing, so much so that Elsa gave up the seat, choosing to use Baymax as a pillow, listening to him work rather than watching. Tadashi rolled his neck around as he sank onto the chair, able to work a lot better when he wasn't two foot higher than the desk.

* * *

By the time Tadashi had finished, the first rays of sunshine were starting to filter through the trees outside the window. He rubbed his eyes, peering at his work, going over everything he'd done with a fine tooth comb, before turning to tell Elsa he was finished.

He grinned at the sight - Baymax was slouched against the wall, his feet slowly rocking from side to side, a warm yellow glow emanating from him. Draped over his stomach was Elsa, fast asleep on top of the giant pillow, her braid dangling over the side along with one arm, her fingertips a hair's breadth from the floor. One of Baymax's large hands was resting on her back, and the robot tilted his head slightly to one side when he saw Tadashi was looking in their direction, talking as though someone had turned his volume down. "I did not want Elsa to fall off."

"Good thinking, buddy." Tadashi chuckled, wandering over to crouch by Elsa's head, gently taking her dangling hand and running his thumb over her knuckles. "Elsa? Elsa…"

She sniffed slightly, turning her head and getting a face full of white vinyl, before pushing herself up. "Huh?"

"Hey there, sleepyhead." He smiled, pushing a couple loose bangs out of her eyes. "I'm finished. Just need your stamp of approval. C'mon."

He held his hands out to her, helping her get off the uneven, bouncy castle-esque stomach that was Baymax, before sitting with her on the floor. He reached behind him and brought the prosthesis around, standing it on the floor in between them. "I fixed it. I had to replace a few parts, these here… and here. This was close to shearing off, so I replaced it just in case. When… when you put it back on, just be careful; I lubricated everything, did a little bit of maintenance. It'll probably feel a bit odd. Don't worry!" He held a hand up at her wary gaze, "I didn't… _improve_ it or anything. I just restored it to factory settings." As soon as she had a hold of the leg, he turned to face Baymax, removing the charging boots, slowly and deliberately.

Elsa realised what he was doing, and used the time he spent seeing to Baymax to pull up her trouser leg and slip on her prosthetic, adjusting the strap that would hold it in place, flexing her knee. It felt ever so slightly lighter than she remembered, and she pushed herself to standing. Carefully, tentatively, she shifted her weight onto her right leg, and she felt the slight bounce of suspension that had long since seized up. She hopped slightly to test it out and lost her balance as a the ankle wobbled slightly. Tadashi leapt up, holding her by the waist.

"Woah, I got you…! Sorry. I thought it might need a bit of tweaking, but I needed your input." He reluctantly removed his hands and took a small screwdriver from his pocket, holding it up. "May I?" At her small nod, he crouched down at her feet. Elsa tugged her trousers up and Tadashi made a few minor adjustments, checking the result with Elsa every time. Once she was happy, Tadashi had her walk up and down the length of the lab as a final test. She came to a stop in front of the window, and Tadashi moved to stand next to her.

"Hey… everything okay? Do you need me to change something, or-"

"No… no it's… it's fine. Works better than it has done in months, thank you."

"Then… are you okay?"

Elsa nodded mutely. Tadashi moved around to stand in front of her, holding her upper arms gently. He put a finger under her chin to make her look up and when they made eye contact he was struck dumb how bright her watery eyes shone in the light of the morning sun. "… you're beautiful, you know that?"

Elsa had never been vain, but she certainly wasn't ignorant. Elsa was the spitting image of her mother - if you ignored the fluke of genetics that was her platinum blonde hair - who on more than one occasion had turned their father, and various other men if Gerda's stories were to be believed, into a bumbling mess. Elsa's blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin had given her more than her fair share of male attention, but much of it had been superficial, especially during her sporting career. After her accident, her injuries were was all anyone would focus on. On the rare occasion someone had looked past them, it had been short lived. Certainly, no one had _ever_ looked at her the way Tadashi was now.

Like he actually _meant_ what he had said.

His gaze bore into her like he was trying to read her innermost thoughts. His chocolate brown eyes were brimming with concern, looking so deeply into hers she thought she might get lost. She vaguely felt Tadashi's strong hands cup her face, a hand run into her mussed up hair. She felt his breath against her cheek, felt his lips brush against the corner of hers, before tracing a path along her jaw, and down the side of her neck. She shuddered at his touch, her hands reaching out to hold onto his arms as he retraced his path up to her ear, nipping at her earlobe. Tadashi's voice was so soft, if he hadn't been so close, she would never have heard it. "You're beautiful, Elsa. And I love you."

By the time his lips had made it back to hers, Elsa's brain had turned to mush. He kissed her gently, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her closer. As the minutes ticked by, their tentative kissing became hungrier, more forceful, tongues colliding, hands roaming and exploring. Tadashi hand slid under Elsa's shirt and the contact of his warm skin on the small of her back made a small moan escape her lips.

The sound was enough to break Tadashi's resolve. He renewed his hold on her waist and lifted her up, carrying her the short distance to the workbench and sitting her on the edge. He briefly ran his hands down the thighs now around his waist, before they continued their journey under Elsa's shirt. Tadashi kissed his way back to her neck, her moans like music to his ears.

There was a clatter, unheard by both Tadashi and Elsa, followed by a barely audible series of clicks. Elsa's eyes snapped open and the sound of the door opening, and she gasped, accidentally tugging on Tadashi's hair as it opened to reveal-

"Tadashi? We've got Baymax's bo- what the _hell-"_

"Woah, kiddo! PG-13, PG-13!" Wasabi shoved Hiro out of the doorway, fumbling for the door and slamming it shut once more.

There was naught but the sound of heavy breathing for several seconds, before Tadashi dropped his forehead to Elsa's shoulder. " _Chikushō..!_ Why the hell…"

Elsa planted a lingering kiss on his hair, drawing lazy circles on Tadashi's back while he grumbled. He straightened up slightly after a few minutes, looking in Elsa's eyes.

"I'm… I'm sorry… my brother has… _no_ sense of timing…"

"It's okay… just… lock the door next time."

"… next time, huh?" He grinned, leaning downwards to kiss her again, before stopping dead, two horrified pairs of eyes turning to look in the direction of a new voice.

"It would be wise of you to acquire protection before engaging in sexual inter-"

 _"I'M SATISFIED WITH MY CARE!"_


	10. Epilogue

Tadashi was awoken by what he could only describe as an earthquake, rumbling through his very core. He jerked awake, and when he opened his eyes he was blinded, as if someone were shining a spotlight directly at him. He squinted, trying to get his bearings, his left arm completely numb and the rest of his limbs sluggish and slow to respond. Suddenly the light vanished, and he blinked, trying to readjust to the darkness once more. The rumbling stopped, and the room became deathly quiet, until a hoarse voice broke the silence.

"Jævla helvete, Mikkel, det er _to i morgen_."

Tadashi felt the mattress shift, and watched as Elsa sat up in bed, her loose hair falling over her bare shoulders, having been freed from its braid not three hours previously. His eyes adjusting to the dim light, he watched Elsa on the phone, listening to whoever had dared to wake them so early in the morning. He had heard the name before, if indeed Mikkel was the name of the caller, but even as his sleep addled brain started booting up in earnest, he couldn't remember who they were. He watched Elsa's scowl deepen, before she squeezed her eyes tight and whispered harshly, "Hva i helvete er det du snakker om?". Though he couldn't quite make out _what_ she'd said, Tadashi had seen that particular expression during one of her sister's many rambles, and got the gist. Whoever she was talking to was clearly rambling. If he listened closely enough, he could just about hear the excitement oozing through the phone.

He watched as Elsa's eyes widened, her jaw slowly dropping. He shifted, propping himself up on his arm, frowning at her reaction. He was about to ask what was wrong, but his worries instantly faded as Elsa's face slowly broke into a massive grin. "Egentlig?" She gasped, bringing a hand up to her mouth, muttering.

Tadashi sat up, putting a hand on Elsa's lower back and giving her a curious look. "Elsa?" She snapped her head round, and Tadashi couldn't help but smile slightly at her grin. "Itoshii, what's going on?"

"De har gjort skøytesporten-"

"Elsa! .. English, please?" Almost six months in to living together, and there were still times that Elsa would wake up in 'Norway-mode', and it always took a few seconds to forcibly switch to English. Tadashi would sometimes wake her up with a few words in Japanese, but as a result of a different kind of excitement.

Elsa stumbled over her words briefly, before finally exclaiming, "They've made speed-skating a Paralympic event!"

 _That_ explained it. "Wait, so… you can-" Elsa bit her lip and nodded furiously at him. As Elsa and Anna had explained to him several months ago, one of the main reasons Elsa didn't partake in her sporting passion was the prohibitive cost of the prosthetic she would need. Because speed skating was only an Olympic event, she couldn't compete, so she couldn't get sponsors, and couldn't get funds, and couldn't complete. Tadashi had planned on surprising Elsa with a prosthetic of his own design, but it was barely off the drawing board, because trying to conduct research without letting on to _anybody_ had proved to be a lot harder than he'd anticipated.

Elsa had gone back to listening to Mikkel, who he now remembered was one of the members of the Olympic team Elsa had been a part of. He watched in awe as her excitement seemed to grow, before her face fell suddenly. Tadashi frowned, rubbing his thumb on the small of her back, "Elsa? What's wrong?" He waited patiently as she said her goodbyes to Mikkel, before dropping her hand and mobile to her lap. "Itoshii?"

"There's…. there's a demonstration. Skaters from all over the world… they want me to represent Norway."

"Elsa, that's great!"

"It's in two months time."

"So?"

"I… I can't be ready that quickly, I… I'd have to find the money, then design a prosthetic, then _build_ it, then-"

"We."

"… what?"

"We. We'll design something, built it- hold on." Tadashi leapt out of bed, skilfully avoiding the clothes littering the floor from the sofa to the bed, walking through the door they had been too distracted to slide closed the previous evening and over to the desk that was covered in project work. He pulled his tablet out from under the mess, before making his way back to Elsa and slipping back under the covers. "I wanted this to be a surprise but… well, Anna did tell me this would be a whole lot easier if you knew." He unlocked the tablet with his thumbprint, before tapping his way to his work folders. Flicking past the multiple Baymax designs, he finally found what he was looking for, and handed the tablet to Elsa. "We have a head start."

She pinched and zoomed in and out of the blueprints, swiping a finger to look at the other blueprints, her mouth open slightly with shock. She turned to face Tadashi, staring at him for a moment, before putting the tablet aside, grabbing a pillow and hitting him with it. "Why didn't you say anything!" Tadashi was slightly relieved that from the brief glimpses he caught of her behind the pillow, she didn't seem angry. But definitely irritated.

"I wanted it to be a surprise..! You were getting so frustrated at not being able to demonstrate more advanced things to Go, I wanted to try and find a way to help. But I didn't want to tell anyone, because it's not _my_ place and I couldn't tell _you_ because it was a surprise. And… I didn't know how to tell you." He took the pillow from her while she was frowning at his last reason. "I was worried… you might think I was trying to… fix you, or something."

In lieu of a pillow, Elsa hit him in the chest with her fist. "Tell me! I already _know_ your heart's in the right place, you _doofus_."

Tadashi rubbed his chest after another thwack, looking sheepishly at her. "I'm sorry, itoshii. No more surprises." The sheepish look slowly morphed into a pout, as he tried to wipe the scowl from Elsa's face. "Unless they're coated in chocolate. Or as good as." He leaned in, silencing her inevitable defence of chocolate with a kiss, before lowering them both back down to the bed.  
"Oh, I'll _prove_ to you I can be just as good as chocolate."

* * *

"… that's a big crowd."

"It is."

"… that's a _really big crowd._ "

"Mhmm hmm."

"… I think I left the oven on."

Tadashi snorted; Elsa hadn't used the oven in the entire time they'd been living together, or _ever_ , if her cooking was anything to go by. "Elsa, you'll be fine."

Tadashi was stood behind Elsa, his arms wrapped around her in an attempt to keep her warm whilst they waited in the wings. The couple, Anna and Kristoff, and the rest of the gang had made another trip to Norway for the event, and GoGo had even worked her way into an amateur event, leaving the rest of her competitors miles behind her, putting Elsa's recent slew of tips and tricks to good use.

Following the premature reveal of Tadashi's surprise, he and Elsa had worked almost non-stop on the project, and by the end of the week, they were at the ice rink, testing and tweaking the finished product. Midway through one test, the gang had arrived, curious as to what was keeping the pair at the slope all day, every day. After the initial shock of finding out what had been going on, GoGo had run off, grabbed her skates and ran back, demanding a race with her teacher, the rest of their friends desperate to see it.

Already caught up in the fun she was having on the ice and heartened at their positive reaction to what she had kept hidden for so long, she had agreed, but lost to her student by the skin of her teeth. After that, she had practised even harder, determined to make winning as difficult as possible for GoGo, whilst also teaching her the more advanced moves that Anna had been unable to demonstrate on her sister's behalf.

The extra practice had gone some way into preparing Elsa for _racing_ , but she hadn't represented her native country in a long time. The fact that she was doing so _in_ her native country had done nothing to calm her nerves.

Tadashi was trying to help, rubbing her hands gently up and down her arms, trying to keep her as warm as he could, given that they were only a few feet from an ice rink, in a freezing cold arena, and she was wearing a lycra bodysuit.

"You know, as figure hugging as this is, I much prefer you _without_ this on." He lightly traced the line of the flag emblazoned on her back, grinning at her reaction to his touch.

"Tadashi, _stop_ … I need to try and focus."

"And I'm trying to keep you warm." He moved his arms back round to hugging her waist, burying his nose in the crook of her neck, kissing his way to just below her ear. She half-heartedly protested again, closing her eyes and diverting her focus to his lips.

"… all fired up?"

" _God_ , yes." She opened her eyes and looked at him, but stopped herself from pulling him into a kiss at the mischievous grin he wore.

"Then have fun." He suddenly let go of her and gently pushed her in the direction of the entrance to the rink, before running off. As she came back to her senses, she heard the announcer introducing the next race - hers. She glared after him, cursing at him under her breath as she made her way to the rink, but anger gave way to complete shock as the home crowd exploded when her blade touched the ice. Turning as red as her uniform, she glided over to the starting line, waving as her name was announced to the audience. She glanced around the rink and spotted her old team mates, sat next to her friends and family. She grinned, waving even harder at them, chuckling as Fred broke out into a mascot routine.

The audience began to calm, and her attention, and that of the other competitors was drawn to the referee. Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself into a starting position. As the gun went off, she pushed herself off the starting line, only to have to turn back around after a false start was declared.  
The referee glided over to the offending athlete to give him his warning. Elsa took the opportunity to look up and down the line.

It was a mixed group, men and women, devoid of the younger teenage athletes the Olympic sport was used to hosting. Each one was representing a different country; some people she knew, most she didn't. The entire event had been filled with mismatching groups of athletes, given the general lack of professional teams. It had been organised as more of a celebration than anything else, but for Elsa and the other professional-level competitors, who would draw the event to a close with an extended short track race, the few minutes they would spend on the ice would feel like a battle to the death.

With everyone lined up again, and the referee back in his place at the centre of the rink, Elsa prepared herself again. After the gun, the entire race was a blur. It was as if she were alone on the rink in San Fransokyo, her braid flying behind her as she pushed herself off the starting line and away from the other competitors, fingers brushing the ice as she glided around the first corner. She could barely hear the roar of the crowd for the blood in her ears, her heart beating wildly in her chest, her lungs and legs burning by the end of the final lap. She clenched her jaw as she saw the finish line come into view, pushing hard, her foot extended as she crossed the line in case someone tried to beat her right at the line.

Elsa turned her head to the side… then to the other side. She frowned, spinning spun around - she couldn't have been _last_ , surely? Her doubts were quashed, and she blinked hard as she watched the next competitor cross the line more than two seconds after she had. As she continued backwards, she caught sight of her name in the first position slot, and her hands shot to her mouth. Her back hit the wall, and the impact was enough to jar her back to reality, and she suddenly heard the crowd roaring its approval, felt the claps of hands on her shoulders as the people directly behind her congratulated her.

She laughed, unable to do much else, and pushed herself back over to the other competitors to thank them. As she hugged the last one, she caught sight of Tadashi and the gang at the bottom of the stands, cheering from the wall. She sped over, almost making Tadashi fall over from the force of the hug, squealing as he lifted her up as best he could with the wall in between them.

Of all the candid pictures Honey took that day, only one was framed upon their return; Elsa with her skates firmly on the ice, Tadashi with his legs in the air, resting on his stomach atop the wall, their lips locked in a congratulatory kiss, their arms around each other, and the gang and most of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic teams pulling faces behind them.


	11. Author's Notes

Just a quick note to thank you all for reading - this was (sort of) my first ever multi chapter fic, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out! Thank you for all your comments and notes - despite my not responding, I read every single one. I'm still amazed by how many people have read this - it was only a bit of fun. :P

I did a lot of research when I was writing this; Chapter 7 was originally going to a quick flashback to the accident in which Elsa lost her leg, but I got so caught up over the details and other things I wanted to add that it became it's own story, Snowboarding: Prologue. I'll start posting that up on soon enough, and I hope you all enjoy that as much as you seem to have enjoyed this one.

3


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